Time off
by FA Ego
Summary: Complete the Starfox team decides to take some time off on Sauria, what they dont know is an enemy lies in wait. Can the team survive an attack from a master of two planes of existence? Sequel is up. Lights outcast shadows.
1. Chapter 1

Time Off Chapter 1

A/N: Redid the first chapter again going to try to go through it all this time. If you finish this story don't forget to read my next story Lights Outcast Shadows.

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Fox laid back in his chair and put his hands over his eyes. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop thinking about the past few weeks. They had been drifting in space for what seemed like forever waiting for any type of job to come up. Any possible conflict, any escort, they were willing to take. Unfortunately nothing at all had come up and so they were left floating in space with nothing to do. They were all looking forward to the great sum of money they were set to receive after the Aparoid war. Similarly they were also extremely upset when they realized they may as well have gotten nothing at all. The new GreatFox didn't pay for itself after all. Sadly with nothing to do and nowhere to go the crew had not been exactly warm to each other as of late.

Fox sighed and lowered his hands. He was being affected by the lack of missions as well. He was afraid to start anything serious with Krystal and it made for an awkward atmosphere whenever she was around. Fox sighed and thought about this again, as he had many times over the past weeks. Of course he liked Krystal but at the same time he didn't want that to get in the way of his decision making. Or even worse, he didn't want Krystal to come to harm because they brought their private interests into their work. Fox slumped in his chair as he was reminded of his past love, Fara. He still felt guilty for what happened and he didn't want the same thing to happen with Krystal. Krystal seemed to construe this as just an overall reluctance to get in a relationship. As she didn't like to look into anyone's minds past overall feelings she misunderstood Fox and he couldn't find any good way to tell her otherwise.

Falco was also having some trouble but his was a much more basic feeling, boredom. The avian could barely stand the thought of sitting still at all, much less doing nothing for as long as they had been. Fox was starting to worry he'd go back to wandering solo again. Slippy was also sick of the mission drought as the lack of income was debilitating for his necessary electronic tinkering.

Fox rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around the bridge. R.O.B was doing a virtual check up on the GreatFox and the Arwings. He had run this exact check probably twenty times since they last did anything. Peppy and Slippy were writing up blueprints for an upgraded version of their sleek fighter. The design would ultimately be better than the current design but as usual would never get built.

Everything around him was exactly as it had been for the past few weeks and he felt like he was caught in a point where time just stopped**. **The clicking of the keyboards was like a metronome driving him steadily to insanity. His eyes were visibly blood shot and he just looked completely disheveled.

"Fox are you alright?" Peppy asked with a concerned expression across his face. Peppy had always acted like a father to Fox since the death of his real father. "You're starting to get a bit of an unhealthy color to you."

Fox tried to quickly pull himself out of his thoughts and put on a smile. "Yeah I'm fine; I just wish something interesting would happen around here. It seems like we've been stuck here forever. " Fox said almost wistfully. "I don't care if it's a mission or what; I just really need to take my mind off of everything for awhile."

"Well I think it's probably a good thing there's nothing out there that we need to take care of so soon after the Aparoid attack. It would be pretty hard on the entire system if anything were to happen right now." Peppy said. "Although I agree with you it would be nice to break the monotony around here. You do have the ability to break it yourself you know?"

"I don't think I know what you're getting at." Fox said, puzzled.

"Let's take a break," Slippy chimed in. "I mean seriously what will it hurt, it's not like we're doing anything around here anyway." Slippy looked back down at his work and scowled at it. "And believe me it would help. I haven't come up with any good ideas in like a year, I really need a break, and by the looks of it you do too."

Fox looked out the window, staring into space. "_That actually might not be such a bad idea, we haven't really had any time off in awhile, and maybe I could get back on Krystal's good side. Now that I think about it we could probably stop off at Sauria for awhile. We're close and I heard they pretty much recovered from the Aparoid attack. I wouldn't be totally adverse to that myself; Sauria is a beautiful planet, not to mention it's been years since I've been on vacation. It might not totally make it up to her but at the very least it will break us out of this horrible routine."_

"Fine," Fox smiled. "You win, we'll go on vacation. I even have a certain place in mind. We can go and get away from all this, and then hopefully when we come back there'll finally be something for us to do."

"Woohoo!" Slippy yelled. spinning in his chair with his hands in the air. "We get a vacation! I could cry I'm so happy!"

Fox grinned at Slippy's ridiculous behavior; he hadn't seen anyone on the team this happy since they defeated the Aparoids. It felt great to put a little happiness back on the GreatFox. "Please don't Slippy; I don't think either of us could take it. Peppy can you call Falco and Krystal down here? I need to make sure we're all down for this. Although I don't know how anyone could turn down some good R and R."

"Well I think I distinctly remember you being very averse to taking any time off but I can see you have a different mindset on it now." Peppy walked over to the communicator and opened a link to the rest of the ship. "Falco and Krystal, please report to the bridge."

"Hey Fox, where are you thinking of in particular for our vacation?" Slippy asked. "Let's hope it's better than the last time you tried to bring us on vacation, I'll never see Titania the same again."

Peppy laughed and Fox frowned. "Hey, how was I supposed to know that it was a breeding season for those sand worms? I didn't want to go in the first place anyway." Fox mumbled. Anyway we won't need to worry about it this time. That is if everyone agrees with where I've picked."

"And where exactly are you thinking of going?" Peppy asked, he had a good idea of what Fox was planning but he wasn't quite sure. He thought he may as well ask although he doubted Fox would say. Peppy had pretty good insight into Fox's mind after all the time he had spent with him. Sometimes he thought he would know what Fox was going to do before Fox knew himself.

Fox grinned at Peppy. He knew Peppy was thinking of the same place he was planning on going to already. "I might as well tell you all at once; wait for Falco and Krystal to get here."

"Well, what did you call us up here for?" Falco asked with his arms crossed, and that oh so familiar scowl that let everyone know he was better than them. "Did we finally get a mission or is it gunna be as boring as ever around here?" It was easy to tell that he was not in the greatest of moods.

Fox was so caught up in talking to Peppy and Slippy that he didn't notice Falco and Krystal walk in. "Oh I didn't even see you guys there sorry about that." Fox turned his chair to face them and cleared his throat. "Anyway the reason I called you down is because I've got an announcement to make. As you know business has been kind of slow lately, and by slow I mean everyone is dying of cabin fever here. Anyway I thought we could all use some time off, so how do you all feel about a vacation." Fox waited a second to see what kind of reaction he would get.

Falco laughed and almost couldn't believe what he just heard. "How much are they payin yah?" Falco asked with a smirk. "Don't get me wrong I wouldn't mind a nice break, but for you to suggest we actually stop working; it's a miracle." In all the time he had known Fox he never really wanted a break from work. Work was always first thing on his mind, with fun and anything like it coming in at a distant second.

"I know, I know I'm not always the fun and games type, but really spending this much time just sitting here twiddling our thumbs isn't exactly the most productive we've ever been. We may as well take some time off while we have it." Fox couldn't help but smile although he tried to be as serious as possible.

"I guess I can't argue with that logic." Falco said, obviously in a much better mood than he started in.

"Okay, what do you think Krystal?" Fox nodded to her with enthusiasm growing in his voice.

"Yeah, sounds great." Krystal said with almost no enthusiasm in her voice. She didn't even look at Fox as she spoke. She seemed completely disinterested in the entire conversation.

Fox cringed; that look hurt him more than a blaster shot could ever hope figured he could still win her over when he dropped the fact that he planned on going to Sauria.

"So where we goin' Fox?" Falco said, immediately snapping Fox out of his thoughts.

"Well I was thinking about going to Sauria, unless anyone has a problem with it. I heard they finished cleaning up there and we all know what it's like down there." Fox was yet again hoping for a positive reaction.

Peppy grinned knowingly.I was just as he had suspected, Fox felt bad about how things were going with Krystal. _"I guess I never should have thought even for a second Fox would take a vacation if it weren't for some ulterior motive."_

Krystal was not expecting Fox to want to go to Sauria; she could sense that he was doing it for her, now she was ashamed of the way she was acting earlier. She resolved to try to make the most of their time on Sauria and that it would hopefully carry them into a new beginning. When Fox looked at her all she could offer was a weak smile. It wasn't much but Fox's heart lifted and his idea was reinforced that everything could be better again soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Fox stood on the bridge, staring out the window at the planet where he first met Krystal. The planet brought back memories, good and bad. But for the most part Fox looked back pleasantly on his time on Sauria. He remembered all the dinosaurs he had saved, and all the ones he needed to fight. He remembered the King and Queen of the Earthwalkers, and their son Prince Tricky. Speaking of the bad; Tricky wasn't the best partner for a long journey. Fox could swear he heard Tricky's voice for a long time after he left Sauria that kind of thing seems to stick with a person. But mostly he thought of Krystal, the way he met her, how he saved her… "_Man, this place looks so much better all in one piece_, Nothing in danger... tranquil."

Other than Rob's typing, the bridge was totally silent. Even Falco, who was not big on silence, was trapped in thought as they approached dinosaur planet. The tension on the GreatFox was temporarily broken by the peace of silence. Robs monotone voice broke the silence. "We have engaged in orbit around Sauria, descent in the arwings is now safe."

Fox was broken from his reverie and turned his attention back to the present. "So, is everyone ready?" Fox asked looking expectantly around at his group of mercenaries.

"We've been ready." Falco said with a scowl. "It's just this piece of junk took forever to get here." Falco was of course referring to the Greatfox, which, was the product of a much smaller wallet than could normally produce such a large ship.

"Well alright then, let's get to the arwings." Fox said, picking up his bags and heading for the docking bay along with the rest of the team. They reached the docking bay in no time, having had the path practically burned into their memory along with a sense of urgency that would always accompany the walk. Fox rolled his bag up the metal floor of the docking bay to his arwing. Fox stared at his arwing happily. Fox viewed it as his companion, the beautiful yet deadly fighter would help him in combat, and if he flew right, the ship would come out okay. It was a sort of symbiotic relationship he shared with it. But today the arwing would have a different purpose.

"Hey Foxie did you plan on leaving our bags here? Cause in case you hadn't noticed there ain't a lot of room in these Arwings." Falco took what everyone else was thinking and put it into his own words. "These things are not luxury cruisers!"

Fox looked the arwing up and down, in truth, he hadn't thought about that. "Uh…," Fox trailed off, scratching the back of his head. "I guess we could bring them into the cockpit with us."

Falco shook his head, obviously unhappy with Fox's idea. The arwings weren't meant to carry much cargo other than their riders. "Fine, lets just get down there."

Fox tossed his bag up into the arwing, and then climbed in himself. "_Now where the heck am I going to put this?"_ Fox struggled to get the bag in a space where it wouldn't be a burden. "_Wow this is a real pain." _Fox finally moved the bag into place, lying horizontally on his lap. "_Well that was real fun!" _Fox started his routine check of the arwings key systems. "Communications are all good. G-diffuser system output is green." Fox said to himself more than anyone else. "Rob, open the hangar doors."

"Affirmative, Hangar bay doors open."

Five arwings burst from the underside of the Greatfox, leaving a bright purple streak behind. The arwings were very graceful in flight and Falco decided to do a couple barrel roll maneuvers. "Yeah, feels good getting back in the cockpit!" Falco seemed most at home inside an arwing.

"Hey Fox, where exactly are we landing anyway?" Slippy asked, over the arwings communication system.

"I guess Thorntail hollow is as good a place as any." Fox replied, remembering the open field he landed in last time.

"Where do you think Tricky will be, Fox?" Krystal asked, thinking fondly of the young Earthwalker.

"_Hopefully nowhere near us"_ was Fox's first thought, but he didn't let that come out. "I'm pretty sure he'll be in the walled city, that's where the king should be at least. Well now that I think about it he'll probably be out playing somewhere."

"Now Fox, he's probably grown up a lot, since we last saw him. I bet he is much more mature now. Besides you're acting as if having fun is a bad thing."

"Fox you and Krystal go on ahead and look for Tricky and the rest of us will take care of setting up camp." Peppy said, obviously happy with the idea. He always tried to give Fox and Krystal a wide berth, hoping they could be alone together as much as possible.

"Are you sure Peppy? I wouldn't like to think we'd be leaving you three to do all the work." Krystal said, somewhat reluctant to accept the gracious offer.

"Its fine, you two go, we don't need the whole team to get the campsite ready. I'm pretty sure three highly trained pilots can tackle a campsite." Peppy said with a joking but more firm tone.

"Well, it looks like we can't get out of it." Fox said with a chuckle. "I hope everyone's going to have fun helping Peppy set up the tent. So sorry we're going to have to miss it. I never quite understood why we never got a newer type of shelter than a tent. Well I guess roughing it is the way to go anyway."

"Laugh it up Foxie, when you get back, we'll put your lazy tail to work." Falco said, with his trademark smirk. Falco meant it too, he was planning on working Fox hard when he got back. Setting up the tent was nowhere near the end of the road.

"Brace yourselves; we're heading into the atmosphere." Fox said, as the arwings were enveloped in fire, a slight turbulence bumping them around in their cockpits.

"We'll see you two back at camp, be back before nine." Peppy laughed, as the two groups of arwings split up.

Fox watched as the planet below came into focus. Shapeless green lumps transforming into trees and shrubs, he was even able to see some of the local Cloudrunners. '_I can't believe Peppy sometimes.'_

"I thought what he did was very nice." Krystal commented on Foxs thoughts.

"You know however many times you read my mind; it will never cease to amaze me." Fox said shaking his head. "But yeah it was pretty cool of him; at least we won't need to work now."

"Well, that's not a very good attitude for a leader to have." Krystal said, pretending to be critical of the way Fox acted.

"Yeah, yeah," Fox said, feigning an air of indifference. "Just get ready to land."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxlinetoolbrokenxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I am so Bored." Tricky whined. "There's nothing to do here. Why doesn't anything good ever happen?" Tricky started to walk in circles around the center of the walled city. "Nothing ever happens here. Wait, what's that?" Tricky looked upward to the source of the noise. "Oh, Sweet it's Fox!" Tricky ran toward the area they landed in, but instead of going down the path, he went around the back. ''_Fox is going to be so happy to see me!''_

Fox looked around at Saurias, lush, beautiful plant life. "It's pretty hard to believe the aparoids were ever here. It doesn't look like they left a very big mark on the planet."

"Yes, it seems Sauria was able to recover very quickly from the aparoid attack." Krystal said, also enjoying the pleasant scenery that surrounded the two.

A rustle in the grass in front of them caused Fox's ears to perk. "Did you hear that?" Fox pulled out his blaster, and aimed at the bushes. "I think it might be-" Fox was cut off, by Tricky tackling him from behind.

"Yeah you fell for it Fox, I got you. I threw a rock over there and snuck up behind you! I win!" Krystal couldn't help but laugh at the sight of an energetic Tricky pinning Fox, and Fox struggling underneath Tricky's weight.

"Yeah you got me Tricky, Now get off!"

"Aww, alright." Tricky whined, letting Fox out from underneath him. "Hi'ya Krystal!"

"Hello, Tricky." Krystal said pleasantly, while still trying to control herself, as a fit of giggles threatened to overtake her.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Tricky asked, looking from Fox to Krystal and back again. "Oh, yeah I told you to come back for your honeymoon. That must be why you're here!"

Fox had figured this would come up, but even so he was really glad he had fur to hide the blushing that was going on. "Tricky, I told you not to say that again!" Fox took a secretive look over to see how Krystal reacted. Krystal just gave him a smile and Fox looked back at Tricky even more embarrassed.

"Well then, what are you doing here?" Tricky asked expectantly. Looking back and forth between the two, completely convinced that his was the correct explanation.

"We're just here on vacation, the whole team." Fox said looking exasperated.

Tricky looked at Fox with a look that screamed "Yeah right", but acted as if he believed him "Alright where is everyone else?" Tricky asked Fox with the obvious thought that he would have to prove it.

At this point, Krystal decided it would be best to change the subject. "Tricky, how have things been as leader here?"

Trickys face lit up. "It's been great, except sometimes I get really bored."

"I can't imagine ever getting bored here," Krystal said looking around. "It looks like there are a lot of things to do here."

"Hey, that gives me an idea." Tricky said doing a little hop, and causing the ground to shake. "Let's go for a walk, you guys can ride on my back."

"That sounds good," Krystal said, amused at how easily excitable Tricky was. "Where are we going?"

"It can be a surprise, hop on. And let's go!"


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: sorry, it's been awhile but… school, ya know. Anyway I quite enjoyed writing this chapter, although it still isn't as long as I wanted it to be. Enjoy.

As the sun lowered in the sky, it became apparent that all Fox and Krystal would receive for their inquiries, was Tricky's repeated response that they where getting closer.

"Come on Tricky, is that it?" Fox asked, although by now, he really didn't expect an answer.

"That's all I'm telling you, so get off my back" Tricky said, giving a small buck, dislodging Fox from his seat.

Krystal, sensing what Tricky was going to do, was able to secure her hold on him before his little maneuver, Fox wasn't so lucky; he stood from the ground rubbing his hindquarters. "What was that about?"

Neither Tricky nor Krystal could restrain their laughter at the indignant vulpine. "Sorry Fox, I couldn't resist, anyways this is your stop." Tricky said between laughs.

Fox paused in his feverish attempt to rub away the soreness in his bottom to survey his surroundings.

"It's Beautiful." Krystal said with a look of awe spreading across her visage.

Fox had to agree, the place looked as if it belonged on an art display. The sun was ready to set above the glistening waves of the cape.

"_Wait this is Cape Claw!"_

"Cape Claw" Krystal questioned turning to Fox.

"Yup," Tricky said with a huge grin. "That's the surprise!"

Fox could immediately tell where this was going. "Why here?"

"Look at it, this place would be a great place for your honeymoon." Tricky said obviously happy with himself.

"I told you Tricky, that's not why we're here!" Fox yelled, he knew that this would come up, but it still annoyed him when it did.

"Look Fox, I'm not a kid anymore, I know why you're really here, now I'm leaving so you two can be alone." Tricky said determinedly, turning to leave.

"Tricky…" Fox was cut off by Krystal giving a slight tug on his arm.

"He has good intentions, and besides we're on vacation we might as well make the best of this," Krystal said letting go of Fox's arm. "Want to go for a swim?"

Fox turned in time to see that Krystal was giving him her trademark puppy dog face. "Aww, come on that's not fair, you know I can't say no when you do that."

This statement just caused Krystal to lay it on thicker. "Please Fox." Krystal said, suppressing her laughter at the look on Fox's face.

"Okay, yes, but we don't have any swim clothes." Although Fox was still wearing his flight suit, Krystal changed before the trip into a pair of jean shorts, and a purple top.

"Oh, don't be a wuss, go with what you got."

"Alright, but I'm going to need to take off all my important stuff."

"Kay, I'll see you in the water." Krystal took a running dive into the ocean.

Fox shook his head, watching the ripples that Krystal had created recede. "_Boundless energy._"

Fox walked over to a large rock, deciding that it would be a good place to leave his stuff. He took off his vest, and scarf, and set them on top of the rock he had found.

"_Krystal's right, Tricky is just trying to help, although it just seems like whenever he tries to help something bad happens._" Fox removed his blaster from his belt and placed it beside his vest and scarf.

"_I've got to remember that we're on vacation, my main goal is to have fun._" Fox also took off his boots, socks, and the shirt that he wore under his vest

Fox turned back to the water. "Watch out, I'm coming in." he yelled taking a step onto the sand. He was relieved that it was later in the day; he didn't favor burning his feet on the sand.

Fox began running full speed towards the water, kicking up mounds of sand as he went. When he hit the spot on the beach where the sand turns to mud, he jumped high into the air, tucking his legs into his body.

"Cannonball!" Fox yelled landing almost directly next to Krystal, causing her to be hit with a huge splash.

Fox let himself sink away down in the water, opening his eyes and letting out bubbles from his mouth. He looked around in the clear water, able to see quite a distance, and saw a school of fish passing by a coral reef.

Fox, starting to feel in his lungs the effect of staying underwater for so long, kicked off the bottom and resurfaced.

When Fox opened his eyes he caught a brief glimpse of Krystal before taking a splash of water in the face. Fox rubbed the water from his eyes. "Hay, what was that for?"

"You splashed me; I was only returning the favor." Krystal said giving him a scornful look.

However Krystal could not stay her look, when she saw how seriously Fox had taken her jest, she burst out into a fit of laughter. "Sorry Fox I couldn't help it, and your reaction was hilarious."

"Hey, you weren't mad where you?" Fox's question sent Krystal into another bout of laughter.

"_Okay so that's how you want it?"_

Fox dove under water, and pulled Krystal's leg just hard enough to send her down, fully submerged, into the water. Krystal, not expecting this, inhaled some water. Krystal swam back to the surface, and coughed the water out of her lungs. "What was that for?"

"You laughed at me; I was just returning the favor." Fox replied with a sly grin.

"You know, I was kind of worried you wouldn't get into the vacation spirit, but it seems as if I had no reason to worry." Krystal said returning his grin.

"Well I gotta say I'm glad we came; I thought of that myself, but I think this is really what the team needed."

"So how long are we staying?" Krystal asked, thinking that this was probably the best time to ask, since Fox seemed so happy.

"I guess until something comes up, or one of us wants to leave." Fox said sensing Krystal's enthusiasm.

"Great; you know this place is so beautiful, I'm surprised you never mentioned it." Krystal enjoyed the beauty of nature immensely, since she was a child she would become enraptured by the simplest things in nature.

"Well when I was here the first time, I didn't have much time for admiring the scenery."

"Then, we're just going to need to take advantage of it now." Krystal walked out of the water, onto the beach and motioned for Fox to follow.

Krystal sat down, as did Fox, facing the sunset.

Krystal let out an apprehensive sigh, and turned to Fox. "Fox, I've been meaning to say something for a while now… I wanted to say, I'm sorry for being so cold with you recently. You weren't ready for a serious relationship and that's no reason for me to be angry with you."

Krystal turned back to the sunset; Fox could see patches of red showing through her cerulean fur. "I've been trying to tell you that it's not that I don't want a relationship, I'm just so worried about you during missions you know. But that's my problem and I need to get over it myself." Fox said feeling the heat radiate from his face.

"Alright," Krystal said getting a little closer to Fox. "Let's just pretend we never fought in the first place."

On the inside, Fox was bouncing off the walls with happiness, but on the outside, he was as calm as can be. Taking Krystals hand in his, Fox sat back and watched the sunset. Krystal looked at fox and said "you know I could get used to this whole holding hands thing" to which fox replied with a smile "What can I say, the space between your fingers was meant to be filled with mine."

After that neither of them spoke, until the sun finally finished its descent, and the water lost its luster. Fox broke the silence. "We should probably be getting back to camp, the guys will be wondering where we where."

Krystal didn't need telepathy to realize that Fox was unhappy that they had to go back. "Don't worry, we've got more than just a day remember?"

Fox couldn't help but cheer up when he saw Krystal's bright smile. "Yeah I … hey what's that?"

Fox saw a small dark dot in the sky, coming closer. It landed at their feet and exploded in a cloud of grey smoke. Fox reached for his blaster, but all he felt was air.

"_Oh crap, I left my blaster on that rock!" _

He tried to scream for Krystal, but when he opened his mouth, the smoke went in. He began to cough uncontrollably.

"_Cough-cough_ Krystal _cough-cough_ where…" Fox immediately stopped screaming, as he lost consciousness.

Authors note: well I finally got into the action part of my story. And again sorry for the long wait, but next chapter should be longer. Unless starfox command comes in before I finish… then I can't promise anything. I am also going to take this time to thank my good friend leonkennedy12, thanks a bunch for editing! Read and review people!


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note: hey, this is chapter 4. I really like this chapter; I wrote it in one day (it was a really boring day of school). I am very happy that I put action in, even though I don't have much yet, I can write action much more fluently than anything else I've tried. Just to let you know, prior to my two stories on fanfiction I have never wrote anything longer than a two page essay for school. So for that, I think I'm doing pretty well. I hope you enjoy this chapter, as I did.

Fox awoke to a throbbing pain in his head. He sat up rubbing his head, his thoughts darting around so fast he couldn't even realize what was thought until his next thought was upon him. Fox opened his eyes to a swirl of color and light.

"Where am I?" Fox instantly regretted voicing his question as he felt the words pass his raw throat, and his chest tighten.

Slowly the swirling mass of light and colors in front of him came into focus and his thoughts slowed.

"_Okay I know it's morning, and I'm at Cape claw."_ The seriousness of the situation hit Fox with the force of a train wreck. He stood up and looked around for Krystal. Fox felt himself being gripped by the icy hand of fear.

"Krystal!" Fox dropped to his knees and began to cough from a pain in his lungs. The pain increased with every cough, until finally he was able to get it under control.

Fox spit on the ground next to him, but instead of the ordinary clear white of spit, the liquid that left his lungs was a deep blood red.

"_Whatever that gas was, it wasn't terribly nice to me._" Fox let out a sigh and sat down on the beach. "_I can't panic, that will only make it worse, what is the most logical course of action?_"

Fox examined his surroundings and noticed that his blaster and other items were still on the rock where he left them. Fox walked over to the rock and picked up his stuff.

Fox finished putting on his clothes, and walked back to the spot were moments earlier he had lay unconscious.

"_Whoever our attacker was they were obviously in a hurry._" Fox reviewed the attack on himself and Krystal in his mind. "_That is, if they meant to kill me._

"_Maybe I should go back to camp and get some help._" Fox contemplated this for a few moments, until he decided that this was, at present, his best bet.

Fox turned from the beach and started towards Thorntail hollow, but stopped short, his gaze falling to the ground. A few small indents in the soft ground was all Fox needed to confirm a sneaking suspicion he had had from the start.

"_Sharpclaw._" Fox immediately changed his mind on where he was headed.

Running back to the beach, Fox received a mental image of the battle that took place on the beach.

"_Krystal was captured._" Fox concluded. "_I don't have time to get the guys, I'm going to need to go it alone._"

Fox found the next set of tracks and followed them, making sure to keep as stealthy as possible.

Krystal awoke in a daze. Not entirely sure where she was going, or where she was, she sat up and felt a small prick of pain in her leg. Rubbing the side of her leg, she remembered what had happened to her.

"_There was that smoke! … And then I was shot with some type of dart, probably a tranquilizer."_

Krystal stood and took account of her situation. She was being held in some sort of primitive jail cell. The walls were lined with slime, and the iron bars in front of her were thoroughly rusted. There was a guard outside the cell but he didn't seem to pay much attention to his captive.

Krystal could tell that the guard was saurian but not from what clan. She tried to speak but her throat was raw, and all she could manage was a strained cough.

The guard outside the cell turned to her and revealed himself as a Sharpclaw. "Hey you shut up in there!"

Krystal couldn't help it, her cough worsened. The guard rolled his eyes, pulled out a key, and opened the cell door.

Krystal saw this, and a chance to escape. She let the guard come closer, until he was standing directly in front of her.

"I told you to shut up!" The guard lifted a large axe, aiming it blunt side down, intent on knocking out his prisoner.

Krystal took this time to act, rolling away from the Sharpclaw guards attack; she pushed herself off the ground and into a fighting position. The guard lifted his axe back up off the ground and charged her. Krystal fell to her back, taking the guards outstretched arms and placing her foot on his stomach. She used his leverage to flip him into the wall.

The guard struck the wall head first with a sickening crunch. Krystal stood and dusted herself off, watching in satisfaction as the guard slumped to the floor.

"Thanks for the Key." Her voice was still slightly hoarse, but most of the pain had subsided. Taking the key from the guards belt, Krystal left the cell and locked it behind her.

Krystal looked around the hallway that she entered, and noticed a door on the side opposite to her. After Moving cautiously to the other side of the hall, Krystal opened the door just enough so that she could see inside.

The room seemed deserted, so Krystal walked in and closed the door behind her. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the center of the room. Krystal gasped in horror at the floating mass, held in a glass cylinder that was filled with a semi transparent liquid.

Krystal had never seen anything like it; it seemed to be some sort of mix between a plant and an animal. It couldn't have been more than a foot tall and yet it still sent a cold shiver down her spine.

The thing seemed harmless enough, floating in the glass container weightlessly like a planet that had lost its orbit. So Krystal turned her attention to the rest of the room that she had previously ignored.

The room resembled a mental institution, its walls a bleached white, with only a few desks, a computer, and the thing in the middle of the room to distract from its lack of diverse colors.

Krystal noticed that the computer on the other side of the room was on, and flashing something across its screen. Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Krystal ran to the computer and examined the monitor.

"_Oh my god!_" Krystal's eyes widened and her pupils dilated as a gasp barely escaped her throat.

Fox was hiding in the bushes where the tracks vanished. His headache had steadily left him, and his throat wasn't troubling him as much.

After reexamining his surroundings, Fox stood from his hiding place and started to inspect the place where the tracks stopped. In front of him is what seemed to be a door, but on sauria he could never be sure. There was some form of writing on the door, but Fox couldn't begin to guess what it meant.

"_I don't have time for this!_" Fox stepped back from the door and pulled out his blaster. "_Not exactly subtle, but I don't have much of a choice._"

Fox shot a fully charged blaster shot at the door, leaving a good size hole. Fox proceeded to knock out portions of the wall, with a few well placed kicks he was able to create a hole large enough for him to fit through.

Squeezing through the small opening that he made, Fox stood back up and walked a few steps into the dark corridor he had entered. Foxs eyes were just barely starting to adjust to the darkness when he heard a loud thump from a nearby hallway. Giving way to his instincts, Fox darted into a room to his right closing the door quietly behind him.

A red scaled Sharpclaw walked down a darkly lit walkway to a large figure, the Sharpclaw couldn't see the large being, but he had seen him many times before and already knew what he looked like. Although the Sharpclaw admired this man, his appearance was none too pleasant.

"He has entered, just as you planned."

"Good, find him and make sure he gets to this point. Oh and try not to lose too many good men." The command ended with a small chuckle that sent the Sharpclaw an intense wave of fear.

"Y-yes master." The Sharpclaw knelt and bowed his head.

"What are you waiting for? Go know!" The figure yelled.

The Sharpclaw quickly stood and exited the room, tripping over himself as he went. He knew enough not to get the general angry.

The general let out a huge grin. "_Finally, Fox McCloud!_"


	5. Chapter 5

Authors note: Hi people, I am happy, even though I got starfox command (Which I have played for 28 hours already) I still find time to write this story. Oh yeah because I have no life. I forgot for a second there. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter. PLEASE R&R.

Fox held the door. After awhile of holding his rigid pose, he felt safe to remove his hands from the door. Fox stepped away from the door and examined the room that he had entered.

The room was a plain white; its walls were lined with shelves filled with glass jars. But Foxs attention was immediately drawn to the object in the center of the room.

"_No way!_" Fox's jaw dropped. "_That thing looks like the bioweapon that was on Aquas during the lylat war!_"

The bioweapon was much smaller than the version that was on Aquas, but was too big to be considered just a clam.

"_Someone must have taken up Andross's research; this isn't good._"

Fox heard a noise coming from a door on the other side of the room. Jumping behind the container of the bioweapon, Fox drew his blaster. The door creaked open. The sound of quiet footsteps drew closer.

"_Guards, crap_"

Fox waited until he could hear the deep heaving of the Guards breath to act. Springing from his hiding spot, Fox jumped up and kicked one of the guards in the chest. The guard stumbled backwards from the force of the kick. Fox pushed himself off the guard's chest with one foot, and swung the other into a roundhouse kick. The kick connected solidly with the side of the guards head.

Fox landed gracefully beside the fallen guard, and aimed his blaster towards the one left standing. The Sharpclaw gaped at Fox, but remembering his orders, charged the vulpine pilot.

Fox's reflexes were so great from his time in a cockpit that the guard wasn't even able to take a full step closer before receiving a gaping hole in his face.

Holstering his blaster, Fox walked into the room that the guards came from. The room was a duller white than the last room that he was in, but was completely barren except for a desk set next to the opposite facing wall. The desk was littered with papers that seemed to be strewn across its surface randomly.

Fox walked towards a door on his right side and tried to open it. When his initial attempt failed, Fox placed both his hands on the doorknob and twisted with all his might to one side.

Foxs second attempt met with as much success as his first. Fighting off a growing urge to kick down the door, Fox turned his attention to the door that faced him as he came in. Turning the handle was surprisingly easy, and the door opened without a hint of resistance.

Krystal heard the creak of a door and ducked behind the desk that held the computer she was investigating. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she readied herself for a fight. The soft patter of footsteps grew louder and suddenly stopped. Krystal could sense a presence behind her watching the desk.

With a sudden moment of inspiration, Krystal decided to check the person's thoughts.

"_I could have sworn I heard something in here… maybe this computer can tell me where they're keeping Krystal._"

Realization dawned on Krystal and she gave a small chuckle.

Fox pointed his blaster down at the desk, he was sure he heard something this time.

"Stand!" Fox ordered.

"Now is that any way to speak to a lady?" Krystal stood from behind the desk with her hands on her hips.

"Krystal? Fox said in shock, lowering his blaster. "Oh thank the Goddess you're alright!"

"I can take care of myself, you know." Krystal's sly grin turned into a look of urgency. "Fox we need to get out of here now!"

"What, why, shouldn't we get to the people who captured you first?" Fox said confused by Krystal's sudden change of mood.

"Ugh, Fox, come on you're not thinking! I was bait, that's what he wants you to do. If you want to die, go ahead I won't stop you."

"Fine, I'll trust you know what you're talking about, but after this I want some answers." Fox said with a frown.

"Yes I'll explain when we get out of here. Now I presume you know your way out of here."

"Yeah we can leave the same way I came in."

Fox brought Krystal back to the door he came in, but before he could leave Krystal grabbed his arm and whispered for him to be quiet.

"What for?" Fox asked in the quietist tone he could manage.

"There are guards at the entrance of the base, I can sense them, and they're making sure you don't get out."

"How many?"

Krystal paused for a moment, focusing on the thought patterns of the guards. "As far as I can tell there's only one, two at most."

"Not too bad then. I'll go out and distract them, and then you can take them out from behind."

"Alright, you still have your blaster right?"

"Yeah."

"Well then get it out, I have a feeling this might get dicey."

"Humph, like we'd get a break. I'm going to go on three, so be ready." Fox's muscles tensed as he readied himself to run into the open.

"Three!" Fox ran out of the door with an amazing burst of speed. After running about ten feet from the door Fox turned and readied his blaster. Fox trembled, he was in trouble and he knew it. Instead of one or two guards as Krystal suggested, there were five Sharpclaw each armed with a blaster rifle trained on Fox's head.

A large red Sharpclaw stepped forward from the group. "Drop your weapon!"

Fox knew he stood no chance against five fully armed guards. He dropped his blaster.

"Now lay on the ground with your hands behind your head." Fox did as he was told. "_Krystal has to find a way out or else this will have been for nothing._"

Fox suddenly heard a loud hiss from above, and the Sharpclaw moving about, followed with an explosion. Fox rolled onto his back and sat up. Where the guards were standing was now burnt to a crisp. Across the singed field came Krystal with a huge grin. Fox's first instinct was to look up, when he did so he saw an arwing descending on his position.

The arwing landed on the steaming plot of grass that it had created. Fox stood and he and Krystal jogged over to the landed craft.

The hatch of the arwing opened. Falco stood inside the cockpit and looked down to Fox. "I leave you two alone for an evening, and you've already managed to get yourselves in trouble."

Krystal laughed. "Falco your timing couldn't have been better."

"Yeah I know, hold the applause. Peppy's sending down a shuttle for you two to get back to the Greatfox with. You wouldn't believe how long it took for us to find you guy. Of course I just thought you two were in some bush somewhere making lo-"

Fox interrupted Falco in mid-sentence. "Yes thank you Falco. We get it you didn't know where we were."

"Well this is no place for chit-chat so I guess I'll see you on the Greatfox. Don't get lost I'm only supposed to save your tails once a day; I don't want to exceed my quota. See ya lovebirds." With that Falco closed the hatch to his arwing and took off.

"He knows just how to get under my skin, but he's a damn good pilot." Fox laughed watching Falcos arwing fly out of sight.

Krystal tapped Fox on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" Fox turned to see Krystal with a huge grin.

Krystal suddenly pulled Fox into a tight embrace. "Thank you for coming to rescue me."

Fox blushed and then let out a nervous laugh. "I didn't really do much of anything, you escaped by yourself."

Krystal let go of Fox. "It's the thought that counts. And besides I've wanted to do that since we were on the beach."

Fox grabbed Krystals hand and pulled her into a kiss. Krystal was surprised at Foxs sudden action, but quickly melted into the kiss.

When Fox finally pulled away he wasn't blushing anymore. "And I've wanted to do that since I met you."

Fox and Krystals eyes locked on each other as they were met with a wave of happiness.

There eyes were finally drawn from each other as the shuttle landed beside them. The shuttle door opened and Slippy hopped out. "Hey guys! Need a ride?"

Fox and Krystal entered the shuttle and were soon on there way to the Greatfox.

"Thanks for coming to get us Slippy." Krystal said sitting down in one of the seats next to Slippy. Fox sat down on the other side of Krystal.

"No problem." Slippy said nonchalantly. "Thank Falco it was his idea. You're lucky we made it to you in time. Peppy stopped us from looking for you until the morning."

"Why?" Fox asked taken aback by Peppy's bad judgment.

Slippy's face took on an odd red hue as he struggled to explain. "Well, uh… He didn't think you were in trouble that's all. Anyway what happened?"

Fox allowed him to change the subject, figuring he could just ask Peppy when he next saw him. "I don't even know the whole story." Fox said shrugging. "I was planning on having a meeting so we could get all the information out at once."

The shuttle gave a small shudder as it broke through the planets atmosphere.

"Alright I guess I can wait." Slippy sighed. "I just hope it doesn't turn into anything serious, I want to keep some vacation time."

The Greatfox soon came into view, and opened its hangar for the incoming shuttle.

A short green Sharpclaw made his way up a dimly lit hallway towards his commander. Kneeling before him the Sharpclaw spoke with a stutter. "M-M-McCloud has escaped, sir. The Sharpclaw had heard stories of what happened to those who angered the general, and was sure he was destined to meet the same fate.

"How did this happen?" The general's raspy voice remained calm, giving the Sharpclaw new hope.

"The prisoner also escaped, she probably helped him escape. There was also evidence of laser use near the entrance.

The general gripped his arm tightly watching the Sharpclaws blood flow over his scales from the newly made puncture holes. Lifting the Sharpclaw to eye level the general shot a piercing stare into his already horror filled eyes.

"I am going to let you live because after Rcaje's apparent death you are my highest ranking officer. But if you fail me again you will suffer, and you will die." The general let the trembling Sharpclaw fall to the floor. "Know get out of my sight!"

The Sharpclaw gave General scales a curt bow. Smiling as he walked away nursing his injured arm, the Sharpclaw almost let out an audible sigh of relief. "_I-I lived._"

A/N: First off the weird word Rcaje is the name of that red Sharpclaw. And his name is pronounced rage. Second uh… I hope you enjoyed as I always do and R&R!


	6. Chapter 6

Authors note: hey people chapter 6 up and I would like to say that I am sorry for my "extended vacation". I got really lazy and I just stopped writing. But I started again and I hope that I won't stop writing again. I like this chapter by the way. Cool twist at the end.

"Okay." Krystal said pausing a moment to mentally prepare herself for the task of explaining such a complex situation to the rest of the team. "Get comfortable this might take awhile."

Fox shifted in his seat, as did the rest of the team before giving Krystal a small nod to continue.

"Well from the computer that I found inside their base I was able to find out a lot about my captors." Krystal began to explain. "Now of course this isn't definite but from what I saw on the computer it's pretty apparent who's running the show here."

Fox leaned forward in his seat focusing intently on Krystal as she spoke the word he had been dreading from the start.

"Andross!"

A wave of shock spread across the room followed by a reverberation of doubt. Fox stood mouth agape. "That's impossible I killed Andross, he's gone for good!"

"Yeah, I saw him do it!" Falco said with a look of disgust upon his face. "This is one sick joke Krystal."

"This is no joke! Andross prepared himself for defeat on sauria. He made two machines that have the power to bind his soul, his essence, to this plane of existence. His body may have died but that's it. He has the power to find a new physical form and tie his own being to it, which he has probably already done."

Fox sat back down and slowly put his hand on his head, rubbing away the pain from this newly made headache. "I thought I was finally through with andross, but if what you say is true then I guess we're just going to need to kill him again, this time we'll make sure he stays down."

"If that's your plan then we're going to need to destroy the two devices that keep him alive before we can attack him directly. Which might be a problem, Andross is probably following us right now." Krystal said with a hint of urgency leaking into her voice.

Falco crossed his arms and scowled at the thought. "I believe it, that stupid ape doesn't know when to give up."

"You've got to remember Andross has the whole lot of Sharpclaw under his control as well. We're the ones at a disadvantage right now." Krystal said.

"There are two things I still don't understand." Fox said a hand still caressing his forehead. "First why are the Sharpclaw following Andross?"

"I don't really know. But the Sharpclaw aren't very intelligent I'm pretty sure they were following General Scales blindly, so they could just be following Andross blindly." Krystal said trying to make sense of the odd situation.

"Alright, secondly how can Andross be following us? Sauria isn't exactly full of ships ready to go. He should be stranded on Sauria."

"When I was looking through the bases files I found plans for a ship, I don't know how they did it but it also said that the ship was complete."

Peppy stood, a look of anger spread across his face. "Well let's stop talking about it and get this ship going! Where are those machines anyway? We need coordinates."

Krystal nodded in agreement. "You're right we need to go. There are machines on Titania and Venom."

"Not to offend anyone but I'm not sure if we can do this alone. I'm going to call Pepper and see if we can't get some help." Fox said still looking slightly dumbstruck from the knowledge of Andross's apparent return. "Get the Greatfox on a course for Titania. R.O.B., open a comm. channel for General Pepper."

The crew of the Greatfox went to their stations to carry out Fox's orders. R.O.B. finished his job and stated. "Comm. link open."

"Starfox?" General Pepper appeared on the screen in front of them. If you're looking for a job we still don't have anything for you."

"That's okay General," Fox said quickly. "I think we've found something to occupy our time. Andross isn't dead, we are already on our way to destroy him but we need some help. That's why we called you."

General Peppers face drooped and the signs of his age showed in deep worry marks. "You don't say. I'm kind of getting used to this by now. Hopefully I will never need to hear those words again. Sorry I'm getting off topic. You say you need help? What kind of help?"

"We're not sure if we can defeat him by ourselves. We would appreciate it if you could send us another pilot, a great pilot. Since our past attempts have failed I don't expect payment for this."

"No I will pay you. I trust you to get the job done, and I already know a pilot I can send to you."

"Thank you general, we're going to be in orbit around Titania so that's where you can send him."

Pepper looked at Fox with worry. "Fox you do know that Titania is in the middle of a civil war right now right?"

Fox looked surprised by this statement, but his surprise soon turned to determination. "I didn't know that but we're still going to need to go there that's where one of Andross' machines is."

"Alright I'm counting on you Starfox, General Pepper out." General Pepper faded from the screen and his voice died away.

Fox turned from the screen to R.O.B. "R.O.B how long will it take us to get to Titania?"

"At a reasonable speed it will take us a few hours. May I make a suggestion?" asked R.O.B

"Go ahead."

"This is not an advisable course of action, percentage of failure is-."

Slippy turned to R.O.B with a frown. "Aww shut up tin man!"

Fox laughed. "Thanks slip."

Slippy waved the thanks away. "No problem."

General Scales looked over his ships prepping with a confident smile. "Nothing will be able to best this ship in speed; soon I will have my vengeance. I will soon be one step closer to conquering Lylat for good."

Many Sharpclaw were running quickly from place to place making sure the ship would be ready for General Scales. _"Even these morons will be able to fly this ship."_

The short green Sharpclaw named Krakter ran over to General scales and bowed quickly. "Sir the ship is ready to fly."

"Good only leave a few troops behind; I want a full crew on board this ship."

"Yes sir!" Krakter turned and addressed the rest of the Sharpclaw. "Get into the ship; leave only a few to guard the base! Hurry time is not a friend!"

General Scales passed Krakter, who was still yelling orders to the other Sharpclaw, and walked up a ramp and into the ship. _"Good they didn't mess up my design."_ Scales walked up the white hallway, passing many Sharpclaw on his way to the bridge.

When General Scales walked onto the bridge the Sharpclaw that were working the ship controls turned and bowed. Scales Grimaced. "Get back to work you idiots; you are wasting time!" The Sharpclaw turned back to their work. They were used to their leaders' mood swings.

Scales sat in the captains' chair of the newly prepped ship. _"Watch out McCloud I'm coming for you."_

Fox laid sprawled out on his bed, hands covering his face. _"Andross."_ The one word brought back painful memories of his fathers' betrayal. His thoughts almost brought him to tears, but Fox was able to push the thoughts to the back of his mind for now.

Fox sat up and reflected on what had gone so horribly wrong in the past days. He was awakened from his reverie by a knock at the door. Fox made sure his eyes were dry and then made his way to the door.

Fox opened the door and was surprised to see Krystal standing in front of him. "Hey what's up?" Fox asked.

Krystal looked at Fox with concern. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright; you didn't seem too happy when you left the bridge."

Fox walked back to his bed and sat down. "I'm fine… I just thought… you know, Andross was finally gone for good." Fox laughed nervously. "He doesn't exactly bring out the best in me."

Krystal could tell Fox was feeling something much more intense than hatred or fear. "You miss your father."

Fox looked up with astonishment written on his face. "Oh right, telepath." Fox chuckled.

Krystal walked over and sat on the bed next to him. "No that's called intuition, and knowing a person."

"Either way you're right. I thought that when I defeated Andross I finally put his soul at ease. But it turns out I just delayed his comeback. I keep thinking about what could have happened if he never died, and instead defeated Andross."

"We never would have met." Krystal said smiling lovingly at him. "You need to take the good and the bad together. Put the past behind you, and embrace the future."

Fox drew his gaze from the floor and onto Krystal. "Thanks Krystal, That's true. There's nothing I can do about the past now but I can't help but worry about the future."

Krystal nodded understandingly. "Try not to worry about the future; I'll be there for you."

Fox grinned. "Krys-"

The P.A speakers interrupted Foxs statement. "We have engaged an active orbit around Titania." Said R.O.B.

"So get down here! Fox, Krystal, Falco hurry up!" Peppy yelled over the P.A

Fox laughed. "Peppy seems really pumped for this mission."

"He hates Andross as much as you do. He isn't holding anything in."

"Lets not keep him waiting then; I don't want him to have a heart attack or anything. Besides I want to see who Pepper sent us."

With that the two vulpines left the room. When they got to the bridge they saw Peppy and Slippy but Falco was nowhere to be seen. After looking over the bridge thoroughly Fox voiced his confusion. "Where's Falco?

Peppy turned to Fox a frown upon his face. "I don't know he just left when we spotted the new pilots ship on the monitor."

"Where is the ship now?"

"It's in the hanger bay, the pilots coming up here now."

"Who is it?"

"Katt Monroe."

Authors note: well that felt good to write. I hope you liked the chapter. Be nice and give me a review alright?


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hey I'm glad to be posting another chapter I have a feeling this may take awhile. I really hope this will be a good chapter despite it being more of a transition chapter. Read and review.

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Katt was walking up a hallway in the Greatfox leading to the bridge. Unbeknownst to the Starfox team Katt had settled down quite a bit sense they last saw her. She had decided to change her fur color from her trademark shocking pink to a hazel brown. Since Katt hadn't seen the team since the first time they defeated Andross She was going to have to meet with one of two different outcomes. Either the team would be happy to see her and glad to have her with them, or they could be unhappy with her total absence for more than nine years. Katt liked to think that the team would understand. _"It's not like I just decided to have nothing to do with them, I've been busy." _Katt reasoned with herself. _"It wasn't easy becoming this influential in the Cornerian military anyway."_

Katt took a moment to think over her recent accomplishments. Katt, after three years of doing freelance work, decided to settle down with one employer. The military turned out to be an unusually great fit for her, although she did feel as if she was settling in more and getting out of her nonstop travel, the military still provided the needed thrills. Katt quickly rose through the ranks of the military with her superior flight prowess and experience in battle. When she learned that the Starfox team was going on another mission, she had to volunteer for the job.

There was only thing that was getting to her; the fact that she would have to talk to Falco soon. While helping the team the first time Katt felt a large attraction towards Falco. Back then Katt was very flirtatious; but nothing ever became of it. Falco acted like a jerk to her and she never really got over it. She tried to date other men but as nice as any of them were they just never seemed right for her. For some reason Katt had always kept a soft spot for Falco, believing that over the years he may have changed. With this mindset she had enough confidence to attempt to talk to him again.

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Fox was surprised to hear that Katt would be their extra pilot. He hadn't seen Katt in over nine years and he didn't know what to expect. Fox knew that Katt had a crush on Falco; or at least he had never taken it for anything more than that._ "I never thought I'd see Katt again after the way Falco treated her." _

Fox walked down to the bridges entrance just in time for the doors to open. Expecting a flash of pink to greet him, Fox was surprised to see that not only had Katts fur color changed, but she was also wearing a standard issue Cornerian military suit. Her suit was Cornerian standard green with a grey stripe running down each side.

"Hey Fox!" Katt said cheerily. Before Fox had time to react Katt pulled him into a huge hug.

"Uh… hey Katt." Fox said with silent relief as Katt released him; Katt had a very strong hug. "Haven't seen you in awhile. What's been up?"

Katt gave him a friendly wink and said. "Oh, you know I've been keeping myself busy; in case you couldn't tell I've joined the military." Katt was obviously very proud of this and seemed to even stand up straighter when her new profession was brought up.

Fox smiled. "You never struck me as the military type."

Katt shrugged. "Yeah and you don't seem the type not to introduce me to someone I've never met." Katt tilted her head to indicate Krystal who had just started to walk towards them.

"Oh, right, sorry." Fox apologized. When Krystal came to the bridge entrance Fox introduced the two. "Krystal this is Katt. Katt this is Krystal."

Katt and Krystal shook hands and exchanged quick greetings. Katt looked from Krystal to Fox. Her lips curled at one side reminding Fox largely of Falcos know it all smirk. "So Fox, I never knew you to be the kind of person to have any sort of personal life. As a matter of fact I'm especially surprised to see you with a girl. Seeing how you were always hanging with the guys and always so business like with women."

Fox blushed and Krystal giggled, but seeing the deep blush across Foxs face, Krystal pressed her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. This gave Fox strength to continue the conversation. "Hey I might have been a little over professional in front of you, but you've got to remember you never really got to see the way I act on my down time."

In response Katt just smiled at the pair and instead of commenting on their show of affection decided to shout up to Peppy and Slippy who were still at their stations. "Hey you guys! Long time, no see. How are you?"

Peppy laughed. "Oh I may be old but I'm still kicking. Though if we don't get down to Titania soon I think I may go crazy."

Slippy wasn't looking as pumped as Peppy, but he had always been slightly less inclined to fight as the rest of the team. Fox never thought of Slippy as cowardly, but he definitely got nervous before the start of a big battle. "I'm alright." Slippy said. (Although the look on his face told a different story.) "We're all ready to go as soon as you guys are."

Fox smiled at the apprehension on his long time friend's face. "Thanks Slip. Have you guys heard from Falco yet?"

Peppy frowned and shook his head. "No he hasn't contacted us but … Oh I'm receiving a transmission from the hanger bay."

Fox sighed. "That must be Falco. Send it through."

Falco appeared on the screen with his usual smirk and spoke to the rest of the team with an air of impatience. "So you guys feel up to the trip, or should I go it alone?

Fox gave Falco a severe look, not unlike a parent reprimanding a young child. "We could've left already if you had reported to the bridge like you were told."

Falco rolled his eyes and mocked Fox openly. "Blah blah rules, blah blah respect. Yeah I know, whatever, let's just get going alright?!" Falco was about to end his transmission when he looked to Katt who was trying hard not to make eye contact. "By the way, looking good Katt." And with that the transmission ended.

For awhile no one spoke. Fox shook his head in disbelief; he just couldn't understand his friend sometimes. Katt was just leaving the bridge when everyone heard her mumble to herself. "You'd think he would have grown up at least a little within ten years time!"

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A/N: This one is short but I purposefully made it that way for two reasons. So I could release it earlier. And it was kind of a big introduction for Katt. Do you think that Katt changed for the better or worse? I personally enjoy writing the new Katt. She still is very spunky but less of a flirt and more kind. You've got to remember that she went through horrible relationship problems with Falco, and this probably lead to the change in personality.

Sorry for ranting. Hoping for a quick release of chpt.8


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: yup this is chapter 8. To clarify Corneria has had control over Titania for a while and that's the base of the civil war. In case that wasn't clear enough. Umm… yup read and review.

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Falco walked around the hanger nervously. He was sure that Katt had taken his comment the wrong way by the way she looked at him. Although Falco was slightly embarrassed by this, he played it off as if it wasn't his fault. _"It's not my fault Katt took it the wrong. I try to compliment her and she automatically thinks I'm being a jerk. Well whatever it's not like she didn't think that before anyway."_ Although Falco always kept a tough exterior, (even in his thoughts), he really was broken up when Katt left him. He had never been able to get over it, not as though he didn't try. Any relationship he had afterward always felt incomplete. Believing this to be a chink in his armor, Falco decided it would be better to just ignore his feelings and focus on his job. As hard as he tried Falco couldn't help but have his heart give a leap when he saw Katt again.

While pacing the hanger bay Falcos eyes came to rest on Katts new ship, a simple Cornerian fighter equipped with better than stock weapons and plating, Simple and effective. Falcos eyes glazed over as his thoughts consumed him. _"What would come of this new mission? What would happen after the mission?"_ These questions floated around his head. The answers always seemed to avoid him, like smoke, as soon as he seemed to finally grasp one it slipped through his fingers.

The door to the hanger opened and Katt walked through. She saw Falco staring blankly at her ship and faltered slightly. Falco turned and looked at Katt who had just seemed to regain the use of her legs as she started to again walk towards her fighter. Katt passed Falco without a look in his direction and proceeded to climb into the cockpit of her ship. Before Falco turned to go to his own ship he said. "Just so you know I wasn't trying to be an ass. I just meant that you look good. It was a compliment; I haven't seen you in forever." His tone was so odd for him that Katt actually looked out of her ship to make sure she wasn't imagining it. Before Katt could say anything back the rest of the team had come into the hanger and Falco had already gotten into his own ship.

When Fox entered the hanger he could practically feel the tension in the air. Because of the feeling of the moment Fox decided against speaking to his team just yet and instead just nodded to them. They understood and started to go off to their own ships. When Fox had climbed into his arwing he opened the comm. link between the ships and began the process of turning the arwing on. When all the ships were ready to go Fox finally used the comm. link. "I don't think I have any need to tell you guys how dangerous and important this mission is." Fox paused and steeled himself for harsh reality. "We might not all make it out of this, if that is the case we need to keep going, we aren't really able to stop. I don't want anyone to die because they stayed behind. Is that clear?" There was a chorus of yes from the communicator. Fox nodded gravely. "Good. But lets all hope that we won't need to think about that again. If everyone is ready follow me out of the hanger and we'll fly down to the surface."

The ships burst from the hangar in a flash of light and sped off toward the surface. When they reached the surface they caught fire and began to resemble a cluster of shooting stars flying down towards Titania. The surface of Titania was desert and even from the height of the Greatfox you could see some of the greatest sandstorms. The planet looked very bleak even from space. Fox notice a small dark patch among the waves of sand and recognized it as a military base. A rough voice came through the comm. "Who are you and what is your business here?"

Fox was taken aback by the harshness of the speaker. "This is the Starfox team and we are here to destroy an item of Andross's."

The gruff voice came back, seemingly less angry than before. "Fine then, you can land; but don't expect a warm welcome. If you or any of your teammates disrupt the goings-on of this base, you will be in for a lot more than a fine."

Fox was slightly perturbed; he had a feeling that they weren't landing on a Cornerian military base. "We won't be any trouble we just need to land. We haven't taken sides in this war and don't intend to. All we're here for is the item I mentioned before; we don't mean any harm to you or your cause." The radio was silent. Fox turned his thoughts to his teammates. "We've got to be on our best behavior team. I'm pretty sure this is a rebel base."

Katt sounded very frustrated even through the communication system. "Fox in case you haven't noticed I won't exactly fit into a base that's fighting against the Cornerian military!"

Fox nodded out of habit, even though no one could see him. "I know, I've been thinking about that myself. I think the best thing for us to do is split up into two teams. That way the searching will go faster and it will help since Katt can't really be seen by the rebel Titania group."

Katt remained silent for a second thinking it over until she finally voiced her thoughts over the communicator. "Yeah I guess that'll work. I don't fancy the idea of being captured five minutes after landing. What'll the teams be?"

Fox thought about it for a while until deciding the teams. "Falco and Slippy, go with Katt. You guys try to find a Cornerian base they will probably be a lot nicer than these guys. Find out what you can about the machine Andross is using. If you find out where the machine is kept or if you get in trouble than send us a signal; we'll do the same."

Katt smiled. "All right, Good luck Fox. Let's hope that we only get a signal of good news. I think I saw a Cornerian military base on the way down, I'll head down that way and see what I can do. See ya later Fox, Hopefully all in one piece!" Katts ship turned around and started in the other direction followed by Falco and Slippy's arwings.

Fox was about to speak to his remaining teammates but decided better of it and instead decided to let the silence calm there nerves as there ships took them down to ground level. The three remaining arwings touched down on the sandy surface of Titania, throwing up a cloud of thick dirt from the arwings underside. Fox decided now to be a good time to talk with his team. "Before we get out of the arwings be sure to put on a mask to protect yourselves from the wind and sand. When we get in there be sure not to mention that we are working with Katt, as a matter of fact we probably shouldn't mention Corneria at all. And remember to be as polite as possible."

The arwings hatch opened with a mechanical click and the trio jumped from there cockpits. They landed close to one of the entrances to the base, and from that entrance came ten armed guards. They were all wearing desert camo with masks that matched, and all held a blaster rifle aimed at the three pilots. One of the guards stepped forward presumably the leader of the group. The guard spoke to them and Fox immediately recognized the rough voice from the radio contact with the base. "Drop your weapons and we won't have any trouble here. Wait why are there three of you? Our sensors showed there were six of you. Where is the rest of your group?"

Fox unholstered his blaster and set it down at his feet, motioning for Krystal and Peppy to do the same. After placing his blaster on the ground Fox began to talk to the guard. "We decided it would be best to split up and look for Andross's artifact separately."

The guard looked slightly disturbed by this but tried his best not to show it. "Ok we're going to take you inside the base to ask you some questions. If you answer correctly then you can continue your treasure hunt."

Fox cringed visibly. "We didn't agree to an interrogation, you said we could go as long as we didn't cause any trouble…"

Fox's speech was interrupted by the guard's rifle butt smacking him hard on the mouth. Fox felt his lips with his hand and felt blood come out the side of his mouth. Fox glared at the guard. The guard seemed highly amused at the pain he caused and started to laugh. "Do you really think we'd let you go so easy? You may be a mercenary team but everyone knows you favor Corneria. You're probably on some mission to spy on us from the Cornerian government."

Fox wiped away the blood from his mouth and continued to stare down the guard. "You don't really think Corneria would send us to knock on your front door would you? We are doing what we said; trying to destroy a dangerous device that belonged to andross that was left on this planet."

The guard laughed again, as if Fox's anger was making him happier. "Do you think you'd get away by talking? We aren't going to let you go unless the Cornerian government gives us our freedom!"

Fox hit a button on the side of a device strapped to his belt; it flashed red for a second then went back to normal. "You can take us in, but just tell me one thing. Why do you want to break away from Corneria so badly?"

The guard became very somber and began to explain. "Everyone has a right to freedom. The Cornerian government unfairly uses us to gain resources. Titania needs to be its own planet-nation. We don't know how far Corneria will go to keep us as a part of their empire but we must resist. Now I don't want to hear any more from you." He looked across to the other guards who seemed to be slightly spacing out. "Hey! Take the prisoners into the base. Keep them in the holding cells until we have a chance to interrogate them."

The three were surrounded by the rebel guards and marched into the base.

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The cell the three were being held in was not as bad as Fox had expected. The room had two small, barred windows on the back wall and a heavily barred door in front. There was also a small cot in one corner of the room which Peppy had instantly sat on upon entering the cell. Peppy looked darkly at the floor. "Fox, why didn't we just all go to the Cornerian base? We could have left and they wouldn't have done anything."

Fox shook his head. "They would have followed us if we had all gone. They just thought that three of us would be good enough for a ransom. Besides I already have a plan. They are expecting either a direct attack or a negotiation attempt from Corneria. My plan is to let them think Corneria is going to negotiate and then have Katt, Falco, and Slippy attack from behind. When they are preoccupied with this, we escape and help out. They left my communication device with me. That means I can tell them the plan from here. I'll do that before they realize I can still contact them. You guys try to think of a way out of here. I didn't want this to happen but it looks like this has turned into our battle. It looks like a tough one too."

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A/N: Sweet chapter. I had great fun writing this chapter. It's even fairly long for me! How many of you think Fox's plan will work out like he wants it too? Well for those that do… aww come on that would be too easy…


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Time off? Chapter 9… Wow I never thought I would make it this far. I really have nothing else to say… PLEASE REVIEW!!!

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Katt and her team of Starfox pilots were mere minutes away from the closest Cornerian military base. Katt jumped slightly as the communicator that Fox had given her blinked red indicating that the rebel base team was in danger and couldn't communicate directly. Katt wondered for a second whether or not she should try contacting Fox or not. Quickly she decided that it wasn't a good idea and instead turned on the comm. between her ship, Falco's and Slippy's. "Hey you guys I just got a signal from Fox, it's not good, they're in danger and can't communicate."

Falco's response was immediate. "We've got to help them! Let's just blow up the base and get them out!"

Katt shook her head and looked slightly exasperated. "You know we can't do that Falco; we don't have the man power. Besides we don't know the situation at that base. Our presence could just be bad news for the rest of the team. We've got to get to the Cornerian base. If we get there they'll probably give us help, which we need."

Falco seemed very sour that his idea was shot down so quickly but was brightened by the possibility of getting back in the action soon. "Fine we'll do it your way, but I still think that we should blow up that base. We can just wait until we get to the base first."

Katt was surprised at how easily Falco agreed to her plan; she was expecting more of a fight. "Good, because we're almost there." The base was beginning to become defined as they drew closer. The base had a very dreary feel. The only spot of color other than the grey of the old metal was on the Cornerian flag. The two arwings and the Cornerian fighter landed near the old building, touching down less than a foot from each other, showing the great ability of their pilots.

Falco, being the most impatient of the group was of course the first to jump out of his fighter. Falco quickly realized he had forgotten his mask as the sand pounded his face and dug at his eyes. Falco hurriedly jumped back into his fighter, wiped the sand from his eyes, and put his mask on. Slippy and Katt held back their laughter and joined him with their masks on, effectively hiding their smiles. Falco looked back and forth between the two and could easily guess why it was they didn't feel like speaking. Trying to save some face, Falco turned to the base and tried his hardest to start a motivational speech. "We can't waste time here guys, Fox, Krystal, and Peppy are counting on us. We've got to do our best to save them."

Katt got her mirth in check and nodded to Falco. "Well said, it could be all up to us. When we get in their, first we need to ask for help to save Fox and his group. I don't care what Fox said; we're not leaving anyone behind. After that we can ask about the machine."

Falco and Slippy nodded. Slippy spoke for the first time since they had separated from the group. "Fox doesn't always knows what's best for him, this time I really think he needs our help."

Katt smiled at Slippy and nodded. "That's right, now let's get inside." The trio walked over to one of the base's doors. Katt tried to open it but it happened to be locked. "Well would you look at that a military base has a locked front door." From the other side of the door came the sound of hurried foot steps. The door in front of them opened promptly and two military figures stepped out. Katt recognized them immediately. "Oh hello lieutenant, hello corporal."

The lieutenant stepped forward and shook Katt's hand. He was a husky who had obviously been through many battles as his face was heavily scarred. He was also quite old as his features drooped slightly, and he had patches of grey fur. He gripped her hand tightly and released it with a smile. "We saw your fighter coming in and decided to come greet you." He had a deep gritty voice. Although by appearance he seemed very rough, he was very kind and shook hands with Falco and Slippy in turn. "I know you two; you're part of team starfox! Where's the rest of your group?"

Katt frowned again, remembering under what circumstances they were meeting. "Actually that's what we came here for. Our teammates went to the rebel base to try and find information and I just received a distress signal from them."

The corporal was much younger than the lieutenant and was a border collie. He stepped forward energetically and spoke confidently. "And you wanted to ask for our help! I don't know how much say I have, but I think we could probably help you. It wouldn't hurt to take out some rebels anyway. Well I'm on your side Sergeant Monroe."

The lieutenant nodded his head at the corporal. "I agree, and I can't see our superiors letting any of our friends be held captive by those rebels. Corporal Davy and I will bring this up with our superiors. I'm pretty sure they'll give us the go ahead, but it's not a good idea not to consult them first. While we go do that, what will you three do? You're welcome to stay in the base if you want to."

Katt nodded and as the military soldiers entered the base, she followed, as did Falco and Slippy. They walked in silence until they entered what almost seemed like a waiting room. The lieutenant stopped and turned to Falco and Slippy. "I'm sorry you two, but since you're not part of the military you can't come any farther than this."

Falco frowned and was ready to argue when he realized there would be no point. Falco and Slippy walked into the room and sat down on the couch that was off in a corner of the room. Katt was about to go with the lieutenant and corporal Davy, when she thought better of it. She gave the two soldiers a hurried apology and went to sit down beside Falco and Slippy. As soon as the two officers were out of earshot Falco said what he wanted to say beforehand. "Oh that's just great, we're doing a job for them and they can't even trust us in their base! Who do they think they are?"

Katt tried to calm him down. "You know this is just for security right? What would happen if we happened to be spying for the other side? And I hope you know that those two are very important military figures. Lieutenant Johnson is a great tactician and has served in more wars and more battles than all of us combined! Corporal Davy is one of the youngest at his rank, he was number one in the flight academy in his year of graduation, and he's already achieved great admiration. Those were two of the most respected military figures in today's military."

This only seemed to anger Falco further. "Mindless drones! That's what they are! I don't care what they've done! I just know what they should be doing now!" Falco stood up and stormed out of the room towards the door they came in from.

Katt was about to follow him when the communicator on her belt beeped. She took the comm. unit off her belt and answered it. "Fox?"

Fox's voice came from the other side sounding hurried. "Yeah, listen. I don't have much time to talk. We're lucky they didn't take my communicator away. We've been taken as hostages, and are going to be questioned soon. We need you to have the military pretend to negotiate while you guys attack from the other direction."

"Okay I'll tell them but…" Before Katt finished she heard Fox start talking to someone else. She was about to say something again when she heard someone yell, static, and then the message stopped. Katt put the communicator back on her belt and looked gravely at Slippy, he heard the message too. "Go tell Falco to get ready, tell him what you heard. I'll go get the military, if I can. Don't go until I come back out."

Slippy nodded and ran out of the base. Katt turned and ran down the hallway Johnson and Davy went moments earlier. She burst down the hallway, checking rooms as she went. Eventually she saw Johnson as she pushed open one of the doors. As she ran into the room everyone went into silence. Johnson was about to tell her off for coming in as she did, but before he could speak Katt yelled to anyone who could hear her. "Fox and his team are captured, and need our help!"

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That was the second time Fox had felt the butt of a gun on his jaw today. A guard walked away from the cell, proudly holding Fox's communicator. Fox rubbed the side of his mouth ruefully. "At least I got the message off in time."

Krystal ran to Fox's side and knelt down beside him. "Are you okay?" She asked as she wiped away some of the blood that was rolling down his chin.

Fox stood up and started pacing the cell. "I will be if we can just find a way out of here."

Krystal stood up and walked over to Fox, placing her hands on his soldiers. "Just calm down Fox. I think I know a way we can get out of here, but we should probably wait until we know everything else is going on before we attempt it."

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Falco jumped in his arwing and took off quickly._ "I don't need to be told what to do from those military snobs! I'll go save them myself; it's nothing I can't handle."_ Falco's arwing shot off towards the rebel base.

Katt ran out of the military base and saw Slippy standing by the ships at a loss for what to do next. As he saw Katt he let out a high pitched yell. "Katt, Falco left before I came out! He's headed towards the rebel base!"

Katt gaped in horror. _"That fool! He doesn't know what he's up against!"_ "Slippy get in your ship; we're going to chase after him. We've got the military following us." They both jumped in their ships and shot off towards the rebel base. Katt cringed at the thought of what could happen to Falco if he were to face the entire base on his own.

Falco noticed he was getting close to the base. Falco steeled himself for the battle, gripping the controls tightly. The same voice that greeted them the first time reached Falco now, but this time he was even less polite. "Land now and surrender, or we'll shoot you out of the sky!"

Adrenaline filled Falco's veins. "I'd like to see you try." Falco expected an angered response, but received nothing. Falco continued to draw closer to the base when some of the steel plating on the base started to shift away. In place of the steel were many round holes. Falco looked oddly at them for a second until he realized what they were. About twenty missiles shot out from the holes in the wall. Falco maneuvered his arwing well, despite his surprise and was able to avoid the missiles by splitting them down the middle. The missiles tried to come back at him but most collided with each other in mid-air. Three of them were left following him. Falco turned into a dive and the missiles followed.

Katt had just flown near the rebel base when she spotted Falco in mid-dive. She sped off towards him and was able to blast the two missiles that were furthest from him. Before she could hit the last one it flew into the back of Falco's arwing making it impossible for him to pull up. Falco's arwing smashed into the ground with terrible force. Katt felt like her heart stopped. "Falco!"

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A/N: Wow that sucks huh? So would you rather Falco live or die? What about the rest of the team? I'm still open for suggestions here, nothing is set in stone. How do you want this story to go? I need a review to hear from you guys! Just because you've reviewed before doesn't mean you can't again! Throw me a bone here!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry for the cliffy but at least it got people to review again. And I am happy to see that most of you aren't heartless. Started this one a bit late, and now to the chapter!

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Katt jumped out of the cockpit and ran to Falcos downed arwing. The crash devastated the arwing. The back end was almost completely destroyed by the missile blast; there were pieces of engine and other arwing pieces strewn across the blowing sand. The front end was crushed upward from the force of the crash. The canopy glass was shattered in places. Katt looked through a large hole in the canopy and saw Falco. Katt climbed over the smoking wreckage to the cockpit. Katt was afraid to push the glass into the cockpit, fearing it would hit Falco. Instead Katt grabbed the glass and pulled it out. While pulling out the glass Katt felt a knick from one of the glass shards. Quickly pulling away her hand Katt saw a cut across her hand. Blood trickled down her hand and onto her wrist. Ignoring the flowing blood and pain, Katt worked on. While she pulled at the glass a raging battle had started overhead. Katt didn't hear any of it; she was focused on her goal. The glass was finally removed and Katt wasted no time. She reached into the cockpit and grabbed Falco under the arms, pulling him out swiftly and placing him on the ground next to the arwing's wreckage. Falco wasn't responsive. Falco had a large wound on his forehead and gashes on his chest, arms and legs. Blood was coming from his wounds, but Katt saw his chest move, he was unconscious. Katt felt hope surge through her body as she placed a bloody hand on his chest. There was a heartbeat! Katt seemed to regain the power of thought and started to work on the wound on Falco's head; the other wounds didn't seem serious enough to cause much harm. Katt used a knife on her belt to cut a piece of her suit from her leg into a long strip. Katt's leg was whipped by the flying sand. Katt cringed but continued tending to Falco. She placed the strip of suit across Falco's head and tied it at the back to stop the bleeding.

Falco moved his head to one side and grimaced. Lifting his head slightly he opened his eyes for a second. He groaned and then let his head fall back. Tears welled in Katt's eyes as she looked down at Falco. Katt heard a loud noise, looked up, and finally noticed the battle that was going on above her. A large Cornerian ship flew down to them and landed near the wreckage. There was a large red cross painted on the side of the ship indicating it was a medic's ship. Three Cornerians came out, two of them went to assist Falco into the ship and the other addressed Katt. "Hello sergeant. We can take care of him from here. You should probably get back to the battle."

Katt wiped the tears from her eyes before she spoke. "Thank you, and yes I agree I probably should join the battle." Katt headed to her fighter but was stopped unexpectedly.

Falco had regained consciousness before he was put into the medical ship. "Hey, Katt! Kill a few for me alright!" The medic's told him off for being active and brought him up into the ship.

Katt smiled as she watched the medical ship return to the Cornerian military base. Remembering what she was doing, Katt returned to her ship. Gripping the controls tightly she shot upward into the raging battle.

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There was a burst of activity in front of the cell Fox and his team were being held in. Almost the entire staff of the base was being put into their fighters to repulse the Cornerian forces. Krystal was looking through the bars watching the passing guards intently. Most of the other pilots had already made it to their ships as one started going by the cell walking slowly towards the hangar. Krystal yelled to him. "Hey you, what's going on?

The pilot looked towards the bars, seeing the prisoners for the first time. He smiled smugly at them as if it had been he who had captured them. "Not like it's any of your business, but Corneria just attacked the base and we're defending it."

Krystal nodded. "And you're staying behind, hoping the fight will be over before you get there."

The pilot moved closer to the bars looking from side to side nervously. "Listen I have a wife and kids; I don't need to go getting myself killed. I didn't mean to get mixed up in this rebellion anyway. If you tell anyone about this I will…"

The pilot was cut off as Krystal reached through the bars and smashed his head off the bars. "Oh I'm really sorry I had to do that, he was telling the truth. I saw he had the keys to our cell so I had to go for him. I really hope nothing bad happens to him because of this."

Fox stepped forward and placed an arm around Krystal's shoulders. "Don't worry about it. You had to do it. Let's just get out of here. Krystal nodded and Fox took the keys off of the guard's belt.

After the door was unlocked the three of them stepped out of the cell and found themselves a new problem. Peppy was first to state his confusion. "Do either of you remember the way we came in?"

They both shook their heads. The problem seemed as if it wouldn't be fixed until Peppy remembered something very important. "On our way in we saw a hanger, so where that pilot was headed must be the way out!"

Fox smiled and shook Peppy's hand. "Where would we be without you peppy?"

Peppy returned the handshake and smile. "You'd probably be lost. Now let's get going! I hope the battle isn't over by the time we get out of here."

The three of them sprinted down the hallway passing many doors and occasionally a guard or two. The guards never held them up long as they were always too surprised to put up much of a fight. They came to a halt in a large area before the main doors. Fox looked outside of the base. "Oh of course they took our ships! I can't believe I didn't think of that. They're probably in the hanger, let's go!"

The whole building shook and a section of the ceiling fell inches from the team. The battle outside was shaking the building violently, and it was coming down! The team ran with the speed of desperation. They entered the hanger and found their ships. To their dismay, their ships were buried underneath huge pieces of the building that had fallen. Fox shouted his orders to the team over the rumbling of the collapsing building. "There's nothing else for it we've got to run for it!"

But Krystal had spotted something very important among the debris. "Fox, that is one of Andross's machines!"

Fox looked over near the back of the hanger and saw what looked like, in all respects, a super computer. It was huge. It had a large screen that made up most of the machine. A picture of Andross appeared on the screen. Fox almost charged it but Krystal held him back. "We've got to get out of here! It's just an image!"

Reluctantly Fox agreed and the team started to run back to the entrance. While they were running they heard a loud blast and the building shook even harder than before. A large section of the ceiling collapsed. Everything that was above it fell and landed on Peppy. Peppy collapsed under the weight and lay there senseless. Fox cried out as if it was he who were hit, and started to dig at the debris. Another loud explosion came and Fox was knocked out by the blast.

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Fox awoke to find himself lying in the bed of a white room. Fox looked around confused. _"Where am I?" _Fox saw that Falco was lying in a bed next to his. A beagle came into the room and jumped slightly seeing Fox awake. "Oh gosh I hadn't expected you to be awake yet."

Fox looked at the beagle with hazy eyes. "What happened? Where am I? Why does my head hurt so bad?"

The beagle introduced himself as a doctor and started his explanation. "Well you were caught up in the enemy base while it was under attack and got a nasty bonk on your head. It's lucky you were found before they blew the place up. You were brought to me unconscious, and I've been trying to heal you since."

Fox suddenly recalled the whole disturbing episode. "I was knocked out… Oh no what happened to Peppy, and Krystal?"

The doctor looked down at the floor and shuffled his feet. "I was really hoping you wouldn't ask me. Well Krystal is okay she recovered much faster than you but Peppy… He was gone before he even made it to me."

Fox was devastated. He felt as though he had been hit by the blast a second time. He didn't cry, he was saddened deeply but he was too shell shocked for it to sink in fully. After sitting in silence for awhile Fox asked. "How long have I been out?"

The doctor seemed delighted that he could talk about something else. "Two days, and I need to go now; I promised some friends of yours that I'd tell them when you awoke."

The doctor left and Fox laid back in his bed. He felt as though he couldn't think correctly and he wondered whether it was because of his head wound or Peppy's death. He still couldn't really handle the fact that Peppy had died. His mind kept telling him that Peppy still was alive, and was going to just show up soon and tell him it was a joke. He knew it was true but he couldn't fully grasp it. Peppy had always been there; even when his father died Peppy was there. Fox finally fully realized what had happened and cried. This was the first time he cried since the death of his father. The tears flowed freely down his cheeks; he did nothing to stop them. It felt good to let loose his emotions for once. For a time after he just laid in bed thinking.

Then Katt, Slippy, and Krystal entered the room. Fox wiped away the wetness around his eyes. Krystal felt bad for Fox and was going to attempt to comfort him when he said. "I already know what happened to Peppy… I think we should just leave it alone for right now. Tell me what else happened while I was out."

Katt spoke up in a tone attempting to cover the sadness in the room. "Well we showed those rebels whose boss, they weren't very well equipped, and they didn't have very large numbers. We were able to take some prisoners but most of them fought to the death, even when they crashed. The prisoners we did take are saying they had nothing to do with the rebellion! Can you believe that, like they never knew that they were fighting. It's too bad you guys missed it. It was a great battle."

Fox sat up in bed and grasped his head in one hand while pointing a Falco with the other. "What happened to Falco? I thought he would be one of the ones who did best in the battle, especially since you guys came from behind."

Katt decided not to mention how Falco had gone on his own to try and save them; it might not be the best thing for Fox to hear right out of an injury. "Yeah well he got shot down pretty early in the battle; he had it worse than you did. For awhile the Doctors didn't know if he would live or not. He's been in and out of consciousness for a couple days now. Are we going to get back to the search when he's healthy or sooner?"

Fox for once had something to be happy about. "I don't think that will be a problem. Corneria bombed the hell out of that base. That's where the machine was being held. And I've been thinking. When I saw that computer, it had an image of andross, I'm wondering if that could have been the source of this rebellion. Maybe andross put them up to it, or maybe they were brainwashed or something. Either way I think we can stay here for a while longer; I don't think we're in any immediate danger here. We can wait for Falco to heal before we make the push to that other machine."

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General Scales was sitting in the captain's chair of his vessel when it happened. An intense pain formed in his chest and his head. He flinched severely but tried to show as little weakness as possible. He knew what had happened and was genuinely scared for the first time since he could remember. He turned to his Sharpclaw chief Krakter and pulled him close with a clawed hand. "Get us on a course for Venom!"

The dangerous glint in Scales eyes told him not to argue, and Krakter quickly distributed the instructions to the Sharpclaw crew. While his crew got to work Scales stole away to his quarters. When Scales finally got into his room he let out a loud scream. Tearing off the robe he was wearing he looked in fear down at his chest. There was a large section of skin that had proceeded to rot away in the middle of his chest. He lifted a trembling hand to reach under his helmet where he felt more rotted skin. The rotten skin was also reaching down onto his forehead. The general pushed away his pain and reached into a large chest he brought with him on this journey. Inside the chest was a full leather helmet and a leather jacket that had straps all around it. Scales took out the jacket and put it on. The jacket caused extreme pain around his torso, but he knew he would have to deal with it to keep himself together, literally. Bracing himself against the pain Scales tightened the straps so it would be next to impossible to remove. Next he pulled on the leather helmet; the only areas that weren't covered were holes for his eyes, horns, and small breathing holes near his mouth. Scales looked in a mirror at his work. He looked even more barbaric than usual. "I will have my revenge!"

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A/N: Wow creepy ending huh? I'm sorry about the whole Peppy thing, but I had that planned from the start. Although I never planned on killing Falco. It doesn't seem like the team will get much time to mourn since the threat is still out there. I'm really sorry about killing peppy but it's a plot mover, had to do it. Hope you guys don't hate me :P


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Chapter 11 :P I am very surprised at how much I'm writing, Although I did take a small break for this one. I think it's probably because I stopped writing it on paper first. This one is a bit short but I guess you'll just have to wait for the next one huh? Well whatever I guess I have nothing else to say except enjoy the chapter.

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Fox laid on the bed of the military quarters, which he and his time had been given for the duration of their stay on Titania. He had spent most of the past few days simply waiting, and thinking. He thought of all he'd been through in the past few days, and how much was still left to be done. He thought of the loss of Peppy, he hadn't cried since he heard about it, but he was still deeply affected. His teammates were starting to get worried about the way he was acting recently, He knew they were concerned about him, but he could never bring himself to talk to them about what was going on. Fox also thought about how Falco could have died in the recent battle, and how Krystal was captured on Sauria. He was beginning to think he made a mistake dragging everyone else into this mess. Fox quickly shook the thought from his head; he knew that the rest of the team was behind him. _"Negative thoughts don't do any good." _Although Fox knew that, he found it hard to follow his own advice. He often found himself drifting into such negative thoughts that he would think the worst possible scenario was the only scenario. Fox was shaken from his reverie by a light rap on the door. Fox sat up on his bed and faced the door. "Come in."

Krystal opened the door and walked in looking at Fox with obvious worry printed across her face. Krystal was able to read Fox like a book, without telepathy. She walked over to Fox and sat down next to him on the bed. "How are you?"

The simplest questions always seemed to have the most difficult answers. Fox thought about it, he actually didn't know how he felt. There was such a whirlpool of emotions inside him, he felt sad for Peppy, worried for the rest of the team; he even had doubts of his own abilities recently. Fox decided it would be easier if he just gave the textbook answer. "I'm fine."

Krystal knew how Fox really felt and she wouldn't stand for anything but the truth. "Fox, you and I both know you are anything but fine. No one here has been fine since the start of this mission. We've all been affected by everything that's happened here. We're all feeling the pressure here, we're all sad over the loss of Peppy. You've got to stop treating others as if they could never understand you, or wouldn't be able to relate!" Krystal looked away for a second, taken back by the harshness in her voice. She looked back at Fox almost pleadingly. "Fox if you could just talk to me every once in a while…"

Fox nodded silently. He hadn't seen what effect these events had on the rest of his team, he was too caught up in his own sadness to even consider what everyone else was feeling. "I know I should, I just never talk about the way I feel because I feel like it would just mess with you guys. That's why I try to take care of things myself… But from now on I'm going to tell you anything you want to know. I won't hide the way I feel. I know that I need to be more open, especially to you. I love you Krystal."

Krystal and Fox embraced tightly. It was more than just a show of love; it was also a show of support. Krystal pulled away and Fox saw that her eyes were glistening. "Thank you Fox, I needed to hear that. Remember that if you ever need to talk about anything at all, I'll be there for you."

They still had their arms around one another and Fox felt that this moment would never end, it couldn't end. Fox could feel their bodies gravitating towards each other. They were both gazing contentedly into each others eyes. They warmth they received from each other was next to none. They were drawing ever closer and as the came closer they closed their eyes. Krystal could feel his hot breath on her face and it sent a chill up her spine. Then in an instant of bliss they connected, and their lips meshed. They stayed in this simple of love for what seemed an eternity. They both craved more; Krystal felt Fox's tongue press against her lips, begging for entrance. Krystal let her lips part and felt Fox's tongue slide into her mouth. The moment could have lasted forever for all they cared, but as fate would have it differently.

From the hallway outside came a loud shouted argument, which broke the two from their embrace. Fox wasn't surprised at all to hear who the culprits were. Katt was an octave from shrieking. "Falco, you know you're not supposed to be out of bed!"

Falco responded immediately his voice slightly quieter than Katt's. "I feel fine! Besides we've got to get going, this mission isn't waiting for us!"

Katt responded very oddly at this. She turned her back on him and said in almost a whisper. "Falco, I saved your life; I don't want you to go losing it by being foolhardy."

Falco stopped on his way to the door and his shoulders slumped. He turned to Katt with an expression that suggested pain. "I know that you saved me and I'm very thankful, but this problem is too big to just ignore…" Falco trailed off and sighed. "Listen I'll make you a deal, just let me up onto the ship. I won't get involved in any battles or anything I just want to make sure we aren't too late."

Katt kept her back turned and she shuddered visibly, after a moment she let out a half-hearted reply. "Do what you have to." Then Katt turned around, and Falco could see her holding in tears. She walked towards him, and then pushed past him roughly making her way to the door. Falco's heart sank.

Fox walked out of the bedroom and saw Falco staring at the door Katt had just left through. "What was all that about?" Fox asked, although he had heard most of the conversation anyway.

Falco took his eyes off the door and turned to face Fox. Although Falco faced Fox, his mind was elsewhere. "It was nothing, and we can start after the last machine now…"

Fox nodded sympathetically. "Falco, if you ever need to talk about anything just talk to me okay?" Fox didn't expect Falco to accept but he thought he may as well offer.

Falco nodded absently. "Alright, I'm going to head up to the Great Fox now…" Falco walked slowly through the exit and to his displeasure he saw that his arwing was not there. Then remembering the crash he headed back inside.

Fox was still standing there waiting for Falco to come back inside. "I'll have to have the Great Fox come down to us; my arwing was destroyed as well."

Suddenly Falco punched the wall, and his sadness was replaced by anger. "I feel so useless! I'm injured and I don't even have my arwing! You might as well go without me, I'm not going to be any help the way I am now!"

Fox grabbed a hold of Falco's shoulders and shook him hard. "Calm down, you're a part of this team, you're coming with us. Besides you don't need to be in a cockpit to be helpful, you have battle wisdom. Now get your act together, now is no time for self doubt!"

Falco nodded sadly. "You're right I don't know why I thought that… I should probably go now." Falco pulled away and walked in the opposite direction.

Fox watched him walk away, worrying about his friend. He pulled out his comm. unit and called up to the Great Fox. "Hey R.O.B bring the ship down here, we need to board."

R.O.B replied quickly. "Affirmative, Slippy and Katt are already onboard. The rest of the team is expected to be picked up on touchdown."

Although R.O.B didn't realize it he just reminded Fox of a very touchy subject. Fox thought again that Peppy would not be here ever again. As suddenly as Fox was reminded of Peppy, Krystal walked out of the bedroom and cupped his face in her hands. "Fox nothing you can do can make him come back. Thinking of it will only make it worse."

Fox almost lost control and cried right there. "I know… it just seems like… like the universe stopped."

Krystal kissed Fox lightly and then looked into his eyes. "Fox I know you're stronger than this. It may seem like everything is at a standstill, but life goes on. Would Peppy want you to just mope around?"

Fox chuckled slightly. "He'd probably tell me to get off my butt and get something done."

Krystal smiled and kissed Fox again. "So how about you take his advice and get your butt to work?"

Fox smiled and gave Krystal a huge hug. "Thanks Krystal. That really helps, but how about you get off your butt too? That way we can both get some work done."

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General Scales's ship landed on Venom's surface. A score of guards filed out of the ship and formed two lines on either side of the ships entrance. General Scales stepped out next, walking in between the two lines. His disgusting features added to his imposing presence. He muttered only one word to the Sharpclaw. "There." And he pointed toward the crumbling remains of a building. They started towards the building. _"This is definitely the place. I remember it as if it was yesterday. The machine built in my image… that was a glorious day!" _The procession of guards entered the crumbling building aware that at any moment the building may collapse. General Scales strode forward eagerly and in the back of the building, just as he remembered was the technology that he required. The Sharpclaw around him gave a jump as Scales Laughed triumphantly. "Ha! Try to come now McCloud! I look forward to the day I can destroy you!

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A/N: Yeah not much happens in this one, but it took me so long to write. I got lazy for awhile there but I got it done eventually. I think this may be reaching the climax! I can't wait to see what happens. : P


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Chapter 12, I can feel the end coming, and I am looking forward to it. : P I guess I have nothing else to say except read and review.

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For the first time in a long time General Scales was happy. The all-important device was in his possession, and his Sharpclaw guard outnumbered team Starfox so heavily, it would be suicide to try and attack him. The Sharpclaw had, at his command, moved the machine to one of his old labs. Scales set up a guard patrol for both the inside and outside of the base. The only thing he was genuinely worried about was the fact that his soldiers were grounded and Starfox would probably launch an aerial attack. Scales got rid of this weak spot by surrounding the base in high power turrets he built from the wreckage of his lab. Feeling confident in his defense system and having nothing else to do, Scales walked into his main room of operations. There were close to twenty guards inside, protecting the machine. The General glared at one of the guards and the guard immediately stood straighter and saluted. He liked the effect he had on people; it was a very nice ability to have. Fear was a great thing. General Scales sat in his chair next to his special possession. He had nothing left to do now but wait. _"Just try to come, I dare you!"_

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The team finished boarding the ship, and after Fox gave R.O.B their destination he was no longer needed on the bridge. The rest of the team had already separated and went their ways. Fox decided to go to his room to wait for the trip to be over. He told R.O.B to tell him when they were ten minutes from venom and then left the bridge. On his way to his room Fox heard noises coming from the sparring room. His curiosity perked Fox entered the room. In the center of the room was Krystal who was standing in front of a dummy, holding her staff in a combat stance. When Fox walked up to her, Krystal lowered her staff and turned to him. "Hey Fox; I was just practicing my close combat skills. Seeing how we are pretty much held to ground combat for this mission I thought it would be useful to brush up on it."

Fox nodded. "Seems like a good idea. Mind if I join you?"

Krystal smiled, lifted the dummy, and threw it out of the way. "Alright, sounds like fun. Should I get rid of my staff?"

Fox chuckled. "Yeah I don't want to be knocked senseless right before our most important mission. I've seen you use that thing."

Krystal tossed her staff aside and dropped into a fighting stance. "Alright Fox, whenever you're ready."

Fox waited a second then dropped into a fighting stance himself. The two circled each other looking for an opening. Fox thought he saw one and threw a jab. Krystal parried easily and countered with a sweeping leg kick. Fox jumped over the sweeping move and landed back in his fighting stance. Krystal was up fast and landed a glancing blow off of Fox's midsection. Krystal aimed another shot at Fox's head but Fox moved to the side to avoid the hit. Fox came back with a flurry of blows that, although Krystal blocked, wore her out with the speed of the punches. Krystal stopped the barrage by taking a swift kick upwards that if Fox hadn't of dodged would have hit him in a very sensitive spot. Fox was now on her side and rushed her with his arms out. Krystal grabbed his wrists and then Fox's mind went blank. Next thing he knew he was laying on the floor winded. Fox took a deep breath, and when he had his breath back he said. "What just happened?"

Krystal was panting slightly. She walked over to Fox's side and knelt down beside him. "I didn't hurt you did I?" When Fox shook his head Krystal explained. "It's just something I've been working on. I focus on sending the opponent, or in this case you, my thoughts. Having two people's thoughts at once can be very overwhelming, which is why it takes a while to get used to. Since you've never experienced this before your mind went temporarily blank which allowed me to throw you to the floor."

Fox sat up and looked at Krystal in awe. "That's very impressive that you're able to send others your thoughts; when did you learn that you could do that?"

Krystal looked away and spoke like there was nothing to her trick. "Well I've known for awhile actually. It was common on Cerinia to send others your thoughts. But it was more for adults as it's difficult to handle. I never really got the training for it so I've just been practicing every once in awhile on my own."

Fox stood and brushed himself off. "Well it seems like it's a very useful ability. How far would you say you could send your thoughts?"

Krystal thought for a moment and then shrugged. "I don't know I've never tried it any distance other than when making contact."

Fox was somewhat disappointed but didn't let it show. "Alright. Well later, that's supposing we make it through this, I'd like to learn to accept your thoughts. It seems like it could be fun."

Krystal was happy about Fox's interest in her abilities. "Ok, oh and you meant when we make it out of this. Positive thinking."

Fox smiled and saluted. "Ok Captain Krystal, I'll make sure to get right on that. Along with a nice nap before we get to venom."

As Fox was leaving the room Krystal shouted after him. "You'd better; I can tell if you're lying!"

Fox chuckled and continued on his way to his room. As he was walking back to his room Fox wondered what it was Krystal was thinking when she sent him her thoughts. While he pondered this he almost passed his room. Stopping abruptly at the door, he noticed it was cracked open and a light was on. When Fox walked in Falco was sitting on his bed.

Falco looked horrible, it wasn't even the bandages that covered him, it was the look on his face and the way he acted. Before Falco saw Fox enter he was just sitting there wringing his hands and staring off into space. When Falco noticed Fox he stopped rubbing his hands together and looked up at Fox almost pleadingly. "What do you think Katt thinks of me?"

Fox was surprised by how unexpectedly sudden the question was asked. "Uh well she obviously cares for you." Fox was wondering how to put his next assessment lightly. After finding no way out, Fox said it very bluntly. "But I think she also thinks you're an ass."

Falco rested his head in his hands and showed visual displeasure at this. "I don't know what I should do; no matter what I do I won't be able to make her happy. I might as well just forget about my feelings, it's worked fine for me so far."

Fox was surprised to see so much emotion coming from Falco and wanted to help him as much as possible. "Falco you and I both know that hasn't been working for you. It may help in battle but not when you're trying to talk to the woman you love."

At this Falco blushed deeply. "Alright I'll try to be nicer. But I'm still so pissed I'm not going to be able to do anything in this battle."

Fox looked around as if someone may be listening in on their conversation. "Don't tell Katt but I'm going to set you up as a sniper. That way you won't be under much stress, and you can still be part of the action."

Falco looked up happily at Fox. "Are you serious?! That's great! Thank you so much Fox." Falco stood up from the bed to leave and then turned back to Fox. "Oh and if you tell anyone about anything that was included in this conversation, I will kill you. K?" Falco smiled and Fox smiled back.

After Falco left Fox laid back in bed with the lights out. He couldn't sleep because of all the thoughts stampeding through his head. He wondered about the outcome of the battle to come. He couldn't stand to lose another team member; he was prepared to fight to the death to save any of them.

Fox heard a light creak from the door and he sat up and turned on the lamp on his side-table. Krystal walked in and smiled at Fox. "I would have come sooner but I needed to take a shower first." She laid down on the bed beside Fox and put an arm over his chest. "Can't sleep huh?"

Fox nodded. "I just can't stop thinking long enough for my brain to rest. I don't like not knowing the future."

Krystal stopped him by placing a hand on his face and tilting his head so they were face to face. "I know how to get you to stop thinking about your future." She then leaned forward and kissed him.

Krystal was correct; Fox immediately stopped thinking about the future. "Krystal, I love you."

Krystal grinned at him and played with his head-fur. "I love you too Fox."

Breaking the divine silence, came R.O.B's voice over the P.A. "We are now approximately ten minutes from Venom. All flight staff please report to the bridge."

Fox sighed and sat up. "I guess it's time."

Krystal pulled him back down gently. "They can wait just another minute."

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Slippy, Katt, and Falco sat on the bridge for the last two members of the team to join them. The atmosphere was once of tense concentration. They were all thinking of the battle ahead, and they knew how high the stakes were. Fox and Krystal walked out onto the bridge and assumed their positions. Before anyone was able to ask why they were late, R.O.B had something to say. "There is a large presence detected on Venom's surface. We have a visual, putting it up on the screen now."

The screen lit up with the image R.O.B spoke of. There was a large ship landed next to an old crumbling building. There were Sharpclaw surrounding the building and covering all entrances. Krystal gasped and pointed toward the ship on the screen. "That's the same ship I saw on the blueprints on Sauria!"

Fox cringed. "So they beat us here. Well then we've got a change of plans. Okay we'll land a good distance from there encampment and use stealth tactics to get inside to destroy the machine; I'd bet anything that's where it is. Let's try to get inside as silently as possible. Slippy and Katt take your ships and fly around the base. Take shots if you have them and make sure not to hit us. Krystal and I will infiltrate the base."

The team stood and walked in silence down to then hanger, even those who would be on foot would exit this way. When they got to the hanger Slippy and Katt got into their ships, while Fox and Krystal armed themselves. Krystal picked up two sub-machine guns and a silenced pistol, placing them in her holsters. Fox also picked up a silenced pistol but then he picked out a high power rifle, which he strapped to his back. Katt and Slippy were ready to leave before they had even landed. Right before the ships left Falco yelled up to Katt's ship. "Hey Katt! In case we don't make it out of this, I love you!"

Katt was so surprised that she absentmindedly pulled down on her thrusters and blasted out of the hanger. Realizing she was in flight she stabilized her ship and put it on course for the building. Looking back on the Greatfox she mouthed the words, I love you too. Slippy shot out after her and she tried to shove her thoughts to the back of her mind, the battle at hand demanded her full attention.

Falco watched Katt's ship going down to the planet until the hanger doors closed. Fox laughed behind him. "When I said to be nice I didn't mean like that."

Falco turned to him and shrugged. "Well you know, I don't want to go into battle with my mind unfocused. At least now I know that she knows"

Fox shrugged and handed him a sniper rifle. "Oh and just in case you better take this too." Fox said as he handed him a rocket launcher.

Falco held the rocket launcher over his shoulder and the sniper rifle pointed toward the ceiling. "I'm a one man army now."

The ship lurched and came to a stop, they landed on Venom. The hanger doors opened and they were able to see the desolate fields of Venom. Falco walked out of then hanger and stepped onto the planet. "I'll see you around then."

Falco started to walk up a hill to set up a sniping position when Fox called after him. "You better not get yourself killed; I'll be the one who has to explain it to Katt!"

Falco flashed a thumbs up and then disappeared up the hill. Fox turned to Krystal and put his arm around her waist. He pulled her into an unexpected kiss. When they finished Fox looked at her deeply. "This is it."

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A/N: Intense huh? Setting it up for the big battle! I can't wait to see what happens, can you? ;)

But seriously tell me what you think, how do you think It should end? C ya next chapter.


	13. The finale

Time off chapter 13; The last chapter.

A/N: Yup, let's go!

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There was a moment before, where there was silence. The silence was oppressive on both sides. Andross didn't know when to suspect an attack, and those that were doing the attacking couldn't tell if their attack had been foreseen. The Sharpclaw outside the base waited in tense silence, wondering when their lives would be in danger, or if they were in danger now. Katt and Slippy were nearing the vestige of what could once have been called a lab. They clenched their flight-sticks harder as they made their approach, waiting for the opportune moment.

Then the silence was broken, a Sharpclaw looked up to see two ships bearing down on him. He pointed up and yelled. "We're under attack!" He attempted to run back into the base but was cut short by a well aimed arwing shot as were many of his comrades.

The ships flew up high and then swooped down again to attack again. A few of the brighter Sharpclaw ran to the turrets set up along the perimeter of the base. Katt looked back just in time to react to turret fire streaming at her ship. She banked hard to the left neatly avoiding the high power shots. "Don't worry about taking out the ground troops! Avoid the turret fire and try to get them locked on!"

Before either of them were able to implement her strategy, a rocket flew at one of the turrets from seemingly nowhere. The Sharpclaw manning the turret looked over just in time to see the high power explosive shooting in his direction. His pupils dilated and the rocket exploded, destroying the turret and the unlucky soldiers standing nearby.

Katt was grateful for the help but confused as to where the rocket came from. In the blink of an eye another turret was destroyed.

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Falco loaded another rocket into his rocket launcher. _"Time to move, my position is known. Plus I've got to destroy the turrets on the other side. Sure is lucky Fox gave me this thing."_

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Fox and Krystal shifted their position stealthily towards the crumbling building. The sounds of battle echoed around them. The Sharpclaw army ran frantically around the base trying to avoid the fire from above. Some of them abandoned their post to run into the base and towards safety.

Fox took out his silenced pistol and was mirrored by Krystal. Fox looked around the entrance to the base, when the coast was clear he and Krystal ran to the entrance. A guard came running recklessly around the base; he stopped when he saw the Krystal and Fox at the base. He pointed at the two and opened his mouth to speak; but all that came out was a gurgle. The Sharpclaw fell to the floor and blood poured from the side of his head. Fox sighed in relief. "Thank god for Falco."

Krystal grabbed Fox's hand and pulled him toward the entrance. They tried to force the door open, but it wouldn't budge. Krystal had a solution. "Let's wait for a guard to come out, and then we can get in."

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Krakter was informed of the attack and received orders to tell the rest of the guard to abandon the fight and come defend the machine. He ran to the exit and the doors recognized him, opening for him. When he ran outside he was grabbed from behind. Fox had him in a headlock. Krystal ran through the now open doors. Fox tried to subdue the Sharpclaw but he was putting up a good fight, sinking his sharp teeth into Fox's arm. The doors began to close, Krystal yelled to Fox. "Fox, Watch out!"

Fox jumped backwards with Krakter still held under his arm. The door closed and there was a sickening crunching sound, Krakter's head was crushed by the force of the closing door. Fox stood up and clenched his arm. Blood flowed through his fingers and dripped to the floor. Krystal looked down at Fox's arm, an expression of worry clearly pasted on her face. "Are you going to be alright?"

Fox lifted his hand from his arm; there were puncture wounds where the teeth sank in. The blood formed little rivers flowing down his arm; Fox noticed and placed his hand back over the wounds. "Yeah I'll be alright, I just need to get it covered; I'm losing a lot of blood." Fox's ears perked and he could hear footsteps in the distance. "Quick, let's get into a room before we're caught."

Fox eyed a door close to them and ran to it. The door opened without trouble and the room was empty. He motioned to Krystal and she followed him into the room. The room seemed as if there hadn't been anyone in it for quite some time. Fox was reminded of some of the rooms in the lab on Sauria, except this was much less well kept. The entire room was in disorder, vials were smashed on the floor and tables were upended.

Krystal opened a pouch on her belt and pulled out a roll of medical gauze. Fox stuck out his bloody arm and looked away. Krystal wrapped the gauze firmly around Fox's arm; Fox cringed and continued to look away. Krystal wondered what the matter was. "Fox, why are you looking away like that?"

Fox cringed again; the wrapping wasn't a pleasant feeling. "Well I've never been one for seeing blood. Even when I was growing up, if I got a scrape on my knee I couldn't look at it. My father always used to tell me it was a bad habit, but I still never really got over it."

Krystal giggled. "I've never heard of a mercenary who couldn't stand the sight of blood. The big tough guy is squeamish." Krystal finished wrapping Fox's arm and there were only a few spots where blood still showed. Krystal put away the remaining gauze. "So how does it feel?"

Fox shook his head and had to clench his teeth to stop himself from grabbing his arm out of instinct. "No better than before but now it won't be bleeding all over the place."

The footsteps Fox heard earlier were now much closer, and then they stopped. A voice came from the other side of the door. "Aww damn the door's stuck. Just wait a second I'll get it open. Yeah this room isn't being used; we can hide out here till the battle's over."

The door creaked and Krystal dove nimbly behind a knocked over desk. Fox was about to hide too when the door shot open. A group of Sharpclaw stood amazed in the doorway. "What the h-… how did you get in here?" Another Sharpclaw pushed the speaker into the room. "Who cares it's the enemy, and we got him outnumbered!"

The Sharpclaw that was pushed into the room was given a kick to the gut by Fox. When the guard was going to bend over to nurse his aching stomach Fox grabbed him and turned him to face the others. Fox pulled out his pistol and aimed it at his captive. The other Sharpclaw hesitated slightly and then advanced towards Fox. Krystal jumped out from behind the desk and laid out one of the Sharpclaw with a blow to the head.

The last Sharpclaw that was left under his own power turned to run for it, he knew his advantage was gone. Fox turned his pistol on him and fired off a wild round, missing by a mile. Krystal was about to follow him but was stopped by Fox. "Don't worry about him, I'll just take care of this guy and then we can go searching for the last device. After we destroy that, this will all be over." Fox struck the unlucky lizard with the butt of his gun, knocking him senseless.

Krystal checked the door knob. There was an old rusted lock on it, unlatched. Krystal examined the small mechanism closely. "Fox I think this lock will still work. We can lock these two in here and hope no one gets too curious."

Fox let the Sharpclaw's limp body fall to the floor. "Alright that sounds good." They walked out of the room and Krystal placed the rusty lock on the door.

The click of the lock attested to its working condition but Krystal gave it a testing pull, just in case. The door didn't budge. "Alright we should be alright then, let's continue forward."

They both moved forward slowly and carefully, hardly making a noise. The prospect of being caught was not a pleasant one. The hallways seemed to go on forever, they checked every room they passed; almost all of them were deserted and those that weren't were usually just hiding places for disloyal troops. As they moved further into the lab Krystal developed a large headache. "It feels like my head's going to split open."

Fox shook his head, feeling bad for his partner but being in no position to do anything for her. "Sorry, but we're just going to need to keep going." Krystal continued along with a hand on her head, her teeth clenched.

Fox heard footsteps again, they both doubled back looking for a room to hide in. It seemed as if they were out of luck as they hadn't passed a room in quite some time and there were footsteps coming from the opposite direction now. The Sharpclaw were sweeping the halls. Fox whispered to Krystal. "There's nothing else we can do, get out your heavy weapons and let's blast through their front."

Krystal nodded, the expression of pain still apparent on her face. She pulled out her two sub machine guns and poised herself. Fox pulled out his rifle and put up three fingers. Krystal nodded again. Fox put down one finger, and then another. As his last finger went down they sprinted in the direction they were going before. As they rounded a corner the Sharpclaw who caused the footsteps were standing in front of them, their faces grinned threateningly. They stood no chance in front of Fox and Krystal's high powered assault. They all went down quickly with bullet wounds all over.

Fox and Krystal ran past their dead bodies, the Sharpclaw that were coming from the other direction sped up with the sounds of gunshot. A Sharpclaw came from a door up the hallway and leapt at Krystal. Krystal jumped and got over him but the Sharpclaw grabbed her ankle, tripping her. Krystal fell hard on the floor. Fox stepped on the Sharpclaw's back and shot him in the head. Fox ran to Krystal and helped her up. "Those other Sharpclaw are going to catch up. Run! I'll hold them off."

Krystal looked at Fox in astonishment; she turned to obey but then looked back. There were a lot of Sharpclaw running in Fox's direction, Fox readied his blast rifle. "Krystal, go!"

Krystal turned and ran down the hall towards the innermost room, where she could sense a vile presence.

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Katt and Slippy rounded the lab solemnly; all the ground forces that were left after their raid had retreated. There was nothing left to shoot at but they waited outside, if they entered the lab they would only jeopardize the mission. Katt half expected to see them walk out of the building any second with their hands held high in victory. They continued to wait, hoping for some sign of the battle that was undoubtedly inside.

Slippy communicated for the first time since the enemy's retreat. "I feel totally useless. I wish there was something else we could do."

Katt agreed but kept her silence, she let her mind wander toward other things. Her mind turned to Falco and she entered a blissful state of mind.

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Fox slumped against the wall. The rifle slipped from his hand. There was an open gash on his chest, and he felt light-headed. Though this was nothing to what he did to his enemy's. Their blood was strewn across the hallway lying with their fallen bodies. Fox let himself slide down the wall and into a sitting position. He sat in a pool of blood, he couldn't tell if it was his or one of his enemy's but he didn't care. He could hardly feel his body, he felt like a disembodied soul. His eyes flickered and then closed. In the back of his consciousness he wondered if this was his end. He felt he was going to die here among all the other dead; it seemed that it fit, and in some way it made sense to him. Fox was just barely holding on to consciousness when in the back of his head he heard a scream. "Fox!"

Fox's eyes jerked open and he had a renewed vigor. He rose from the bloody floor and his senses came back. His chest hurt horribly but he only had one thing on his mind. He turned to the way Krystal left and ran after her.

Fox continued running until he reached one hallway, from this hallway emanated two polar opposites. He could feel immense hate and immense love coming from the same place. Fox could sense where it was coming from and kicked through a door. Inside the room were a ton of Sharpclaw and the last device he made out to destroy. Fox couldn't see any of this; he was focused intently on the grotesque figure of General Scales. General Scales waved his arm to one side. "All of you stay out of this, this is between us."

Fox pulled out his pistol and shot at Scales' head. The General held out his hand and the bullet stopped, and then dropped to the floor. "Isn't it amazing what you can do with technology? I think it can make one as strong as a god. I always wondered why it was you bothered to fight a god when you know you can't kill them." At this General Scales grinned behind his leather mask. "I guess by now you've found out my true identity. Otherwise you wouldn't have known to come to my beautiful planet. Oh how I have longed for this, Guards bring her forward."

Two Sharpclaw came from behind Scales holding Krystal between them. Fox cringed. "You're disgusting!"

Scales smiled as if Fox had just paid him a high compliment. "So I'm giving you a choice. You can be stubborn, and watch the girl die before I kill you. Or you can just let me kill you, that way I won't need to deal with a struggle."

Fox looked around the room, looking to somehow find an edge to this losing battle. Just when Fox was about to give up hope he noticed Krystal's staff at his feet. Fox looked up at Krystal and he could hear the voice in his head again. "I'll distract him."

Krystal broke roughly from the Sharpclaw's grasp and ran toward General Scales. Scales turned toward Krystal and picked her up by the neck. "You think you can surprise me I know what you will do before you do!" Krystal struggled in Scales grasp and then let her thoughts flow into Scales.

Scales face went blank, for a second he almost felt remorse. Then looking down Scales could see the tip of Krystal's staff protruding through his body. His muscular arms let go of Krystal and she dropped to the floor. Krystal quickly picked herself up and ran to the machine. Without a second thought she shoved her arm through the machine and ripped at the inside cords.

A jolt of electricity shot through her body and she fell to the floor. Fox ran to her and placed his arm under her. "Krystal, are you alright?! We won; you've got to get up!"

The Sharpclaw that had previously been viscous enemy's now showed no contempt for the two and some of them even showed concern for the blue-furred vixen. Krystal opened her eyes slightly and smiled at Fox. "Stop yelling and get me the hell out of here."

Fox smiled and tears ran freely down his face, the wound on his chest was forgotten. Fox lifted Krystal and carried her out of the lab, and off venom.

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A/N: Wow I can't believe that that's the end. I would like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed this story, especially those people that were with me to the end. I really appreciate the support. Oh and I was only 14 when I started this story and am only 16 now just thought that may not have been clear. And here I would like to thank some of my reviewers individually. No particular order.

Leon Kennedy12 – for the kind reviews and for being my editor for a (very) short time.

Fennesey – Thanks for the reviews, you were very consistent, and I liked that. : P

Misterchief – Nah not really lol.

1337guitarist – (also known as OrangeKatt : P) you're reviews at the start were very informative and helpful. Thanks!

Shadowani – a faithful : P thanks bunches.

Notfromearth7 – really you're not from earth? …Corneria? Thanks dude!

Artistictuba – glad you noticed my use of Krystal's powers. Wasn't the ending awesome for that: P

Doug-E-Fresh – better than Doug-E-Stale! Sorry for the pun, but thanks for the reviews.

Twoweeksinhawaii – for an in-depth review, thanks for the constructive criticism!

Fang Reynolds- came in late but contributed none the less : P

Mondoman8 – also came in late but contributed two good reviews. (So Far) Thanks Bud!

Starfoxfan – reviewed first and second to last chapter, the one's where your input is most useful, thanks!

And also Thanks to all those that put my story on alert, or favs. (Or both : P) You guys have been great, hope to make a sequel got a story in mind. Don't be surprised to see more by me later.


	14. Sequel Note

Note: The sequel to this story has been added. The name of the story is Light's Outcast Shadows. I realized that a lot of people who read this probably don't check the new stories list so often so I made this to tell everyone about it. I hope you enjoy the sequel!

-F.A.E


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